Chapter Sixty Two

Jumper stared across his desk at Surge, his eyes narrowed in a way that greatly unnerved her. His chin rested on his steepled paws, and not a single glint of uncertainty crossed his features. The fact her paws were still trapped in sticky frubbles did nothing to aid her confidence. No way to defend herself. Surrounded on all sides by members of his police force. A quagsire sat beside her with a small lie detector hooked up to a tablet computer. It didn't intimidate her in the slightest.

A large empoleon the frogadier had addressed as 'Heatsink' jabbed her in the side with one of his sharp flippers, prompting her to speak. She hissed at him and shuffled in her seat, masking her attempts to remove her restraints as an attempt to make herself more comfortable.

"I'll ask you again." Jumper's voice was steady and patient. "You said you've not been working alone. Now who were you working with?"

"And I told you that would be a breach of confidence," she replied.

"I think you've got a lot more to worry about right now than a breach of confidence." The governor sat back in his seat and rapped his fingers on his desk. "There is a law in this city that no one is to harm pokemon under our protection. I owed that to Wildcard, given they saved this city from a war resulting in famine. Thanks to them, one of the biggest scourges in Luma City's army has been removed, and while we're still recovering from the aftermath, we could have ended up a lot worse off if it weren't for Macro and his friends." He narrowed his eyes again. "So tell me who you've been working with."

Surge's lip curled up into a smile. Luma City... a place filled with grass types. That Midi was starting to look a little suspicious now. Who's side was he really on?

"You can smirk until the miltank come home." Jumper shook his head. "It's not going to help you."

"I'm just thinking," said Surge, "that you might want to consider that not everyone in this place is on Cyan City's side."

Jumper raised an eyebrow, and the vaporeon behind her let out a gasp.

"Are you saying there are traitors out there?" Jumper asked. "Spies?"

Surge shrugged as best she could. "No idea. But I'd take things with a pinch of salt."

Floppy bounced to her side and fixed her with cold, black eyes. "You'd better talk! Because I'm feeling pretty trigger happy right now!"

His cold breath frosted over her fur and she grimaced.

"I'm not saying anything," she said. "Not after you let Macro's goons take off in my ship!" She leered across at Jumper and he sighed, swiping a paw over his glossy desk. "Besides, you can't keep me here for long. Socket wouldn't stand for it. She's hired me!"

"You're right," said Jumper. "I can't keep you here for long. Not if Socket did indeed hire you. But I'm afraid this says otherwise."

He pushed a flier towards her. Her face frowned back at her, complete with fifty thousand credits scrawled below her chest. And there with it, her crime. Hacking. No further details, just plain and simple.

"Now, allow me to put the pieces together," he explained. "You've shown up here looking... how do I put this? Different from this poster. No bandana, a black dress rather than a waistcoat. And you've brushed your fur so much it looks like a transition between zigzagoon and linoone."

She glanced down at her tail, smoothed out yet still ragged, a dead giveaway to her species. Regardless, it took away that rugged look she'd worn for years.

"If you indeed are working for Socket," said Jumper, "then why has she put out a wanted poster for you?"

Surge tightened her jaw as she stared back at him. Why, indeed? It was written right on the poster. Socket didn't like hackers, that much was obvious. But her targets very rarely rose over ten thousand credits.

Jumper steepled his paws together again and leant towards her. "You said you'd done some work for Macro. I'm well aware of what DL is. Socket took her memories, made her into a machine."

"Computer," Surge corrected.

Jumper shrugged. "Computers are machines. But you've only aided in proving my point with that little statement. I suspect Macro hired you to hack Socket's databases in order to find out what exactly happened to little DL. Am I right?"

She pulled her lips back from her teeth but said nothing. The frogadier was really beginning to get on her nerves.

"I think you want to catch Macro in order to make amends with Socket," he went on. "But I highly doubt that she'll-"

"She's already wiped my slate."

Jumper raised an eyebrow.

"I've forwarded her new information," Surge went on. "As a result, she's given me a second chance to catch him. Although my payment has taken a pretty big hit."

"I'm not certain I believe you."

The quagsire looked up and nodded. "This says she's telling the truth."

Jumper examined her from his seat, trailing his eyes up and down her body for any hint of a lie. Surge chuckled and shook her head. Useless. As if she hadn't trained with lie detectors before.

"You heard it straight from a tangle of wires." She shrugged. "Can you really take the chance in keeping me here, then? If I'm right, Socket might execute you. If I'm wrong... well, you've let a wanted 'mon escape." A smirk tugged at her lips and she chuckled again. "I'd hate to be you right now."

Heatsink frowned and looked at Jumper, keeping his bladed flipper near Surge's neck. "Lie detectors ain't perfect. You really wanna take that risk?"

Jumper rubbed a paw over his face and sank back in his chair. "No. Not really."

Surge resisted the urge to grin.

"Now, about that pokemon who helped you," Jumper went on.

"If I tell you, what will happen to him?" she asked.

"He'll be locked up here in our cells," said Jumper. "I can't say how long, that will take a jury to decide. But if I were to hazard a guess... for attempting to hand a protected citizen over to his death... I'd say fifteen years."

Fifteen years... She'd never even have to look back at Cyan City. "All right, I'll tell you. His name's Midi."

"Really?" Jumper's eyes almost bugged out of his head. "So you'll happily hand him over to us then? I'll guess you made a deal and don't want to follow it through. What did you offer him? A cut of your share? Before Socket docked it, no doubt."

Surge shrugged. "A 'mon's gotta get by."

"You're notorious." Jumper jotted the name down on his pad. "Heatsink, see Surge to a cell and locate this Midi. I believe he's a lombre."

Heatsink snorted. "I've had dealings with him before. I know who he is."

The empoleon jabbed Surge with his flipper and she slid to her feet. She aimed a glare at Jumper and wrestled with her restraints.

"I thought you said you weren't gonna keep me here!" she barked.

"I don't really want to," said Jumper. "But your ship is currently AWOL."

She spat on the floor. "Yeh, no thanks to you!"

Jumper closed his eyes as he leant his head in one paw and waved the other. "Take her away. I'll deal with her once her ship has been returned."

"You really think Wildcard's gonna return her ship?" Floppy asked. "Macro knows she's after him. If I were him, I'd leave it somewhere. Like the bottom of the ocean."

"Then we'll find another way to get her out of the city. I'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Jumper shooed the other pokemon out of his room. "Go. I need to file all this."

Surge glared at him over her shoulder, but searing cold shot up her spine as Floppy launched an ice beam at her tail.

"Keep walkin'," he growled.

She muttered under her breath and turned to exit the office. Trapped between three large pokemon, she stomped after them as they led her to the cells.

...

The sharpedo ship grew steadily closer to the pyukumyuku, covering distance at a speed Tracer found difficult to describe. Any second now, Cyph3r would unleash an attack. The delphox's heart sank. That pyukumyuku looked harmless. The aquatic pokemon the ship was modelled on, however, was packed full of surprises. If you hit one, it would hit you back with twice as much force. Tracer stroked his chin as he wondered how that would be incorporated into a ship built in a criminals' back yard out of scraps. The flimsy structure looked like it would fall apart if he so much as breathed on it.

"All right!" N0ize grinned at his pilot. "We're close enough. Unleash the torpedoes."

The magmortar's single paw nimbly flew across the dash, lighting up an array of buttons. Something deep within the ship whirred like a well-oiled motor. It probably was.

N0ize chuckled and leant back in his seat so far it creaked beneath his weight. "These oughta punch through that hull like a knife through cheese."

"I think butter would be a better description," said Widget. The incineroar leered back at him, but he didn't so much as flinch. "It's softer," he added.

N0ize grinned from ear to ear and pointed a claw at the eevee. "I like you, little mutt."

Widget snorted through his nose but said nothing.

The whirring stopped, followed by a deep roar. Ahead of them, three grinning carvanah whizzed towards the pyukumyuku. The rickety ship dropped several feet before the missiles had a chance to hit, letting them soar harmlessly overhead.

N0ize's face fell and he scratched inside his ear. "Nimble piece o' junk, eh? Make us swerve up and down and send a barrage. Let's see if they can dodge that."

Tracer leapt to his feet and dived across the cockpit, grabbing the magmortar's paw in both arms. He fixed a leer on N0ize.

"Is this a game to you?" he barked.

N0ize stared back at him and Tracer's fur stood on end as an electrically charged hum emanated behind him from Cyph3r's railgun.

"What if it is?" the incineroar rumbled. "You want that human threat removed, and I'm just providing pest control." A grin split his face, chilling Tracer to the core. "If I'm havin' a little fun doin' it, so what?"

Tracer's lip twitched as he searched for any reason the pirates should call off the attack. Static was slowly filling his fur, turning him into a bronze brush.

"It's murder," he said flatly. "Other pokemon are on that ship."

"Aye, criminals." N0ize grinned again. "We'd be savin' Socket a job."

"I doubt she'd see it that way."

"What does she care, anyway?" The incineroar threw a paw in the air. "She's miles above Meta City dealin' with them alien things. Let's shoot this human down and put an end to this rebellion. Either way, rebellion or not, I don't rightly care. I'm just in this for the fun. Hit it, Cyph3r."

The magmortar clubbed Tracer over the head with his railgun arm and a grunt came from the detective's nose as he crumpled to the floor. Before he could jump back up, that whirring filled the ship again. It swerved up and down, sending a wave of nausea through Tracer's gut. Although that was more likely to do with the whack he'd received. At some point, Widget had attached himself to the magmortar's arm. The large fire pokemon waved him off, sending Widget sprawling across the cockpit floor to land in a heap against the wall. Tracer rolled towards the eevee and pushed himself up, wobbling slightly. His ears were ringing. He barely heard the roar as the missiles flew towards Annie's ship. Twelve of them, soaring towards her in a figure eight. They'd been aimed in such a way the ones at the top and bottom of the attack were curving towards the ship.

"They're not gonna dodge that," Widget muttered.

The eevee pushed himself up and shook out his massive ears. The pair of them watched in horror as the pyukumyuku tried to dodge. At least... that's what it looked like. The ship swerved to the side and just kept going, turning to face towards them. A long, stretchy arm swung out from its nose, sweeping towards the missiles in an arc. The top most ones were caught in its slimy appendage and knocked towards the ones below it. They exploded on impact, blowing both ships away from each other.

The sharpedo shook and keeled backwards. N0ize let out a grunt of surprise and blinked a few times.

"Guess it's got more defences than I thought." He roared with laughter and struck the dash. "I like it! Send another flurry, let's see what else this piece of junk can do."

Cyph3r sent out another torrent of missiles. Five more carvanah flew at the pyukumyuku. It swatted aside three of them, but one of the missiles hit its 'innards out'. The missile exploded, shrapnel striking the ship and its lone weapon. The slimy thing was torn to ribbons, and a huge chunk of it fell with the missiles still wrapped in its gooey fist.

If a ship could look surprised, the pyukumyuku managed it down to a T. It turned tail and tried to saunter away to freedom.

"We've got it!" N0ize barked. "Chase after it!"

The magmortar pointed a claw at the dash and fixed N0ize in a glare. The incineroar leant over to see what he was pointing at and grunted.

"All out of missiles, eh?" He shrugged. "Guess we're usin' our close range attacks then. Full speed and crunch!"

"Close range?" Widget gasped. "Oh boy. We're gonna die."

"You don't sound very distressed," Tracer muttered.

"I'm running on adrenaline. This is awesome."

N0ize flashed the eevee a grin. "That's the spirit, mutt. You wanna evolve into a flareon and join my ranks?"

"Nope, can't and don't want to." Widget puffed out his chest, flashing his everstone. "I'm awesome just the way I am, thank you very much."

N0ize turned away and scratched inside his ear again. "Such a waste. All right! We're close enough!"

The sharpedos jaws opened slowly, gaining on the pyukumyuku inch by inch. Tracer pulled himself up on the dashboard and fixed wide eyes on Annie's ship. Were those decorative spikes trembling? How much damage had they done? The thing was about to fall apart. Shredded to bits at the jaws of some deranged space pirate's vessel. He glanced at each of the space pirates in turn, a deep dread rising within him. He'd made some pretty bad mistakes in his life, but this one definitely took the biscuit. His paw sought out his stick. One dazzling gleam and he was taking over the sharpedo.

A flash of green caught his eye and he snapped his head around just as two of the spikes launched from the pyukumyuku on rusted chains. They struck the sharpedo, one spike striking the side of its jaws. The other one smashed through the windscreen, almost impaling N0ize to his seat. The incineroar let out a squeal that didn't suit his appearance at all.

The spike retracted back towards the ship, their rusted chains rattling and creaking. They didn't quite make it back, dangling behind the ship like a pair of tails.

Cyph3r leant over the dashboard towards N0ize and aimed his railgun arm out of the window. It hummed, growing with intensity as the entire length of the coil lit up. Then, a long beam of electricity shot towards the pyukumyuku. Something hidden in that beam struck it, creating a hole in its tail. Shrapnel rained down around it, and the small ship ducked and swerved as it tried to regain balance. Then... it began to descend towards System Ground.

Tracer's jaw dropped as he watched it vanish through the clouds. He swallowed dryly and licked his lips.

"What have you just done?" he whispered.

N0ize blinked as he tried to gather himself and ran a paw over his ears. "Wretched thing's busted my windscreen."

Widget's head appeared on the other side of his lap, his brown eyes livid. "Yeh? Well you just busted their entire ship!"

"Just doin' my job." N0ize glared at the shattered glass and rubbed his arms. "Let's turn back and head somewhere we can do repairs. I ain't flyin' with a wrecked window. It's freezin' up here. All six of my nipples could cut glass!"

Tracer let out a growl and retreated to the back of the cockpit, Widget in tow. The eevee sat down heavily and looked up at him.

"I think you're suffering from a rare case of 'moral dilemma'," he said.

Tracer pulled a cigar from his pocket. N0ize couldn't exactly complain now the window was smashed. He fixed Widget with an unreadable look and let a lick of flames light the end of his cigar before popping it between his teeth.

"What makes you say that?" he asked.

"You can't make your mind up about the girl," the eevee explained. "Now we have two choices. Find parachutes and bail, or wait for this ship to land and go find her."

"You two ain't goin' nowhere," said N0ize. "It's your target that busted my ship, so you're payin'." He glared at them over his shoulder, a glare that chilled Tracer so much he feared he'd been frozen solid. "You got a problem with that, there are other ways to squeeze the credits outta you. I can think of twelve ways off the top of my head." A grin. Not a friendly one. "I'll leave that to your imagination."

The incineroar turned away and Tracer's cigar dropped from his mouth into his lap. Widget looked up at him, his ears slightly drooped.

"Man, Tracer... I think we might have just been abducted."

...

"Did you install any parachutes in this thing?" Web desperately clutched her seat while Poipole clung to her back in sheer panic.

"No, I didn't install any parachutes!" Trojan barked back.

"Why? Did it just not occur to you?!"

"Clearly not!"

"I hate to be the one to speak the obvious," said Annie. "But two of us have wings."

All eyes flew to the human. A sneer crossed Trojan's face only to be quickly wiped away by fear as the ship swerved towards the ground once more.

"Well I also hate to be the one to speak the obvious," he growled, "but you currently don't!"

Annie looked down at her human self.

"Are we gonna die?" Zip squeaked.

Water sloshed from his bowl with every stomach-churning lurch.

"No we're not," said Trojan. "Because I'm gonna fix this bag o' bolts. All right?" He vanished beneath the dashboard, stumbling as the ship continued to lose altitude. "Someone man the controls!"

Waveform pushed Annie back into her seat and took Trojan's seat. A few tugs of the steering stick and the ship levelled out. Annie's eyes widened and she removed her hands from her head.

"Have you fixed it?" Her bottom left her seat as the ship dropped another few feet. "I guess not."

"I have a question," said Web. "How does a hole in the tail of the ship affect the engine if it's in the front?"

"It doesn't," said Trojan. "The engine's fine. That blast, whatever it was, removed the rudder and shook up the thrusters that keep us in the air."

"So what are you trying to do?"

He pulled his head out and glared at her. "Increase the thrust so we can at least land on dry ground!" Another plummet. He struck his head on the dash and swore loudly. "Everyone shut up and let me work, alright?!"

Annie sank into her seat and placed a finger on her lips, just like children are told to do when they're required to shush. Waveform raised an eyebrow at her then turned back to the controls.

"Well if we're probably gonna die," said Zip quietly, "I want to thank you guys for helping me. And being a friend. For showing me that other pokemon actually care for us water dwellers."

"We ain't gonna die," said Trojan. "Shut your berry hole."

"You're very welcome, Zip," said Web. "And ignore him, he's just as scared as the rest of us."

"I want to thank you as well," said Poipole. "Other pokemon had tried to shoot at me."

"Well, if we're all doing the thanking thing," said Annie, "then I want to thank you all for... erm... doing this rebellion thing. And... dang it, I was sure there was something else."

"Taking you in?" Web helped.

"Yes! Yes, exactly." Annie folded her hands behind her head, but the ship gave another lurch that pushed her to cower in her seat. "I don't like this. I want off."

"We all want off," said Waveform. "But that's not an option. This ship needs her captain."

Annie removed her arms from her head and looked around at her crew. Terrified faces. Except Waveform who looked as collected as he often did. She cleared her throat and sat up straight.

"All right!" she said. "Onward to dry ground! We ain't sea pirates, we're space pirates! We don't do the swimmin' thing."

"I do," said Zip.

"Well... the rest of us aren't as talented as you, little fish. I don't like getting wet."

"Seconded," said Waveform.

"Thirded," added Poipole.

"Where's the closest dry land?" Annie asked.

The thrusters roared and the ship levelled out. The hull still trembled like a terrified child, but things felt... firmer.

Trojan climbed out from the dashboard and shooed Waveform from his seat.

"There," he said. "That should get us to the coastline at least."

"So it's fixed?" Web's eyes narrowed. "I find that very hard to believe."

"It ain't fixed," he said. "It's merely tweaked so we don't crash and die in the sea. Is that good enough for everyone?"

A chorus of 'yes' echoed through the cockpit.

Trojan nodded and turned back to his controls. "That's what I like to hear."

The ship trembled and ducked slightly, causing Zip to yelp.

"What was that?" Annie asked.

Trojan didn't even look up. "Let's not talk about it."

...

The beartic leant towards the camera, as close as he could get to the microphone without knocking the camera 'mon over.

"What do you mean it'll all blow over?!" he screamed at the interviewer. "Between here and Wave City, fisheries have been dragged to the ground! Electricity, scalding water, rocks! Smashed to bits! Pokemon have died!"

The interviewer pushed him back so she could get back into the camera shot. The young gardevoir brushed her paw over her head, trying her best not to sigh with frustration.

"All wars come to an end eventually," she said. "Let's not get System riled up over pointless propagan-"

"Pointless?!" the beartic hissed. "The water types are revolting and the mayor couldn't give a -" Someone managed to beep out the beartic's language. Most likely an exploud.

The ice type was taken away, while the gardevoir returned to the camera.

"As you can see," she said, "the oceans have done a double take. Turning to the land to right the massive wrong made centuries ago, riding on the coat tails of a group named Time Archeops. Will the little goldeen and his friends manage to turn this around? Will fisheries fall? Or will all of System fight back, brining an end to any rights the water dwellers currently have left?"

Anchor groaned and closed his eyes. "Switch it off, Matrix. It's depressin' me."

"But you don't eat fish," said the ribombee. "What's the problem?"

"It's not the fish that's the problem, it's the situation!" Anchor waved a paw towards the dark space ahead. "System's fallin'. Any other time, I'd be backin' a rebellion like this. But now ain't the time! We've got bigger fish to fry, if you'll excuse the expression."

"I will not excuse it," said Switch. "I think it was in very bad taste."

Anchor sighed and brushed back his mohawk. "Sorry. I'll try to think of better words to use when my brain is frazzled. Let's just... focus on catchin' up with Macro, okay?"

The cockpit fell into silence as Matrix stuffed his computer back into his belt pouch. The lone tympole ship trundled along, growing gradually closer to the schooling wishiwashi, while miles below the oceans glowed yellow as the lanturn rallied their masses. Somewhere, another fishery fell, washed away beneath the chaos that the Ultra Beasts were bringing.