Chương 82: Chapter 66

My fourth time being teleported while conscious was better than my second. Worse than my first or third. I kept my dinner down, but only barely. I didn't keep my footing, and would have slumped to the floor without a timely intervention from Sabrina's Alakazam, who'd made the journey with us. The yellow psychic caught me in a telekinetic grip, and gently placed me in a nearby chair.

It took nearly a minute for me to recover from my roiling nausea, and when I finally reclaimed control of my stomach, it was all I could do to stagger to my feet and take in our surroundings. Sabrina had returned us to the same hospital room we'd departed from, though now it was bereft of both patients and staff. Slowly beeping machines and dim lights provided most of the illumination in the otherwise dark room, drawn curtains keeping the morning sun from shining into the quiet space.

"I had to teleport us here because this is the only place in Ferrum I've ever been," Miss Natsume's deadpan voice preempted a question I'd yet to put words to.

"Did you read that from my mind, or just foresee that I'd ask?" My voice was still hoarse, but it was understandable at least.

"I've long argued that it doesn't count as mind reading if I'm the one being subjected to your thoughts," the foreign woman replied, "and I can't tell you a lot about what's coming up ahead of you. My foresight regarding events surrounding myself tends to be rather precise, but the less impact it has on me personally, the less clear my vision. And you in particular are— murky, in my sight." Another unasked question answered.

"You mentioned my best friend, what's going on with her?" I asked instead, staring at the aloof psychic.

"It's unclear. Like I said, it doesn't impact me directly. The fact that I have any foresight over someone I've never met, and never will meet, is rather remarkable. I just know that you need to be in Ferrum in the immediate future, and that it relates to her somehow." That was vague. Frustratingly vague. But if the woman was telling the truth (and I had no reason to think she was lying), she didn't deserve my irritation. Frankly, the only thing she deserved from me was my thanks.

She'd gotten my mother to Kanto where she could get the care she needed, and then awoke at (or stayed up until) three AM to teleport me across the world again so I could help my best friend.

"It's not exactly altruism," Miss Natsume admitted, her face shifting through a microexpression that I couldn't read.

"Let's just say that I'll be adequately compensated by your mother's family for my efforts over the past twelve hours."

"Well thank you all the same," I said aloud, before offering the woman a bow.

"I don't know how I could ever help you, but I'll repay this favor someday, if you ever need me to." For some reason, my offer made the woman go stock-still, to the point where even her partner was giving her an uncertain side-eye. Her eyes glowed briefly, before dimming once more, and the Kantonian psychic looked at me, uncertainty clear in her gaze.

"I– I guess I might take you up on that, someday." And before I could respond to that cryptic statement, the woman was gone, along with her Alakazam, the pair disappearing without a trace in front of my eyes. I was left blinking gormlessly at their absence for a few moments, before I recollected myself.

"Right, Alyssa. Ok." I pushed my way out of the room into the busy hospital, and started making my way towards the entrance. As I went, I pulled my Pokégear, and thumbed through the contacts. Alyssa didn't have a portable cell device of her own, but I could call her landline. A dial tone played for three seconds, five, before a click heralded a familiar voice.

"Yes? Hello? Who is this?" The slightly tremorous tones of Alyssa's caretaker were a sound for sore ears.

"It's me Mrs. Peters, Fe."

"Oh, Fe! It's good to hear from you. Alyssa tried calling you this morning and couldn't get a hold of you," the older woman told me.

"I– I didn't have signal. Something came up," I said, unwilling to elaborate further in the hospital corridors.

"I'm coming over now."

"Oh, I'm afraid you just missed Alyssa, actually," the housekeeper informed me, "she had a battle to get to this morning, over at Mechry Stadium. Some friends of hers from the dojo came over and they all went over together." Right, it was a weekend, which meant Alyssa had battles to get to.

"Alright. I'll meet her there then," I informed Mrs. Peters.

"See you tonight."

"I had better, young lady. We're having pot pie tonight, and you and your lovely partners don't want to miss it."

"Wouldn't for the world," I promised, and made to hang up, but something came to me right before I pushed the button.

"Um, weird question, but have you heard from my dad?"

"Pern?" Mrs. Peters asked, the question plain in her voice.

"No, not recently. Why?"

"No reason!" I said hurriedly, and probably unconvincingly.

"Gotta go, bye!" I thumbed the 'end call' button on Pokégear. My best friend was at Mechry Stadium, supposedly accompanied by some friends, and certainly with Mr. Gima in tow. Even odds whether or not the other battlers were real, or conjurations by Ink. Mrs. Natsume had said that I needed to be here for Alyssa, but surely it'd be no problem if I stopped at home first, just to check if my father had made it back last night. I'd just have to hurry.

"Mana," I held her ball up close to my face.

"Do you remember the way home?" The Poké Ball in my hand shook in an affirmative, just as I stepped out into the parking lot. Alright then, here we go." - I pushed open the door to our apartment, trying to ignore the dripping trail I'd left behind me on the walkup.

"Dad? Are you here?" I called out into the darkened entryway, but no response was forthcoming, in spite of the lights on further back in the apartment. I must have forgotten to turn them off last night in my rush to get to the hospital. I released my partners, who immediately flowed into the apartment.

"Don't settle in guys, we're just here long enough for me to start the drier, for us to do a post-mortem, and then we're heading out after Alyssa." A chorus of confirmations came from my Pokémon as I stepped past them, further into the apartment. I pulled open the sliding door to the hall closet, exposing our washer/drier, and a small pile of unused suppliers. I ignored the latter in favor of the former, stripping off my sodden clothes and bundling them into the device.

I set it on a short cycle and turned the device on before heading towards my room. As I went, I noticed that the handset was still where I'd left it, hanging suspended from the phone chord attaching it to its cradle, further proof that no one'd been here since we left. I replaced the device I passed, and made a mental note to dry the thing off before we left. And to do the same for the floor I was currently dripping all over.

I'd just gotten a towel out of my bathroom when the doorbell rang, eliciting a growl of frustration from me.

"Hey, can someone check on that?" I called out to my partners as I tried to dry myself off. Could any of my partners learn a Fire-type move? Maybe something I'd need to look into if I continued traveling via the Yowashi Express. Wait, Mana had strong hydorkinesis. Couldn't I just get her to remove all the water on my skin?

"Washi, wawawash," Mana's call jolted me out of my musings. One of her constructs floated in front of me, its crimson eyes flashing and its body wriggling frantically in what looked like a warning.

"Something wrong?" I asked, suddenly on alert. The construct bobbed up and down in a fair approximation of a nod, just as the doorbell rang again.

"Danger?" I hissed at the little azure fish, "Do we need to leave?" This time, I got an uncertain wriggle. It seemed like Mana wasn't entirely sure.

"Ok, give me a second, I need to get dressed. Get everyone to cover the entryway, I'll be right out." By the time I made it to the front door, the bell had been rung twice more and someone had resorted to knocking repeatedly on the doorframe.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I shouted over the din, catching each of my partners' eyes as I passed them. My knights bristled, stacked up on top of each other right next to the door, ready to fall upon anyone who came charging in. Maushold's ears were angled towards the banging, only their heads visible from their hiding place behind the coats hanging up beside the door. Mana hovered above the doorframe, accompanied by a small shoal of constructs all angled towards the potential intruders.

I stood on my tiptoes and squinted one eye shut so I could peer through the peephole built into our front door. On the other side stood a man and a woman, both wearing armored jackets in dark-green. I couldn't make out many more details than that, but the quick glance really told me everything I needed to know. City-security, or rather, one of their 'sub-contractors.' I seriously considered just walking away, leaving them to bang futilely on the front door.

For obvious reasons, I wasn't the biggest fan of the jacked-up goons pretending to be contributing members of society, but this clearly wasn't a random visit. They were ringing the doorbell not three minutes after I'd returned to the apartment, and they were being persistent about it. Obviously the pair had been waiting for someone to get back to our apartment.

This could have something to do with how my mom got injured, or news about my missing father, or one of another dozen legitimate reasons why they might want to talk to whoever was living here. All of which meant I needed to hear what they had to say. But that didn't mean I needed to be stupid about it. I nodded to my knights, indicating for them to stand on my left, so they could hold the door shut if it came to that.

They quickly rotated, ready to brace against the door, and I steeled myself, before cracking the entry open.

"Hello?" I asked, peering through the narrow strip of light at the two officers.

"Hello, Ms. Alvida?" the woman asked, a smile plastered on her face. I couldn't really read how genuine the expression was, but the scowl on her partner's certainly wasn't faked.

"We're from City-security, and we were hoping we could ask you a few questions." Now that I could see our visitors more clearly, additional details stood out. The woman looked to be the younger of the two, though both seemed to be approaching middle-age. Neither had any visible Pokémon accompanying them, but they did have Poké Balls on their belts, as well as batons. Worse, both were clutching the faceless, gray visages of Personal Synchronization Systems under one arm.

"What's going on?" I asked, trying my best to keep my voice level, "is everything alright?"

"That's what we wanted to ask, actually," the woman replied, her face still contorted in that unreadable smile.

"My name is Lenora Crall, and this is my partner, Morgan DeVancey. Are your parents home?" I was tempted to lie, but I had a suspicion that they already knew the answer to that question.

"Not right now," I shook my head, "I can take a message for them though."

"That's alright dear, no need for that," the officer shook her head, but before she could continue, her colleague interrupted her.

"Has Pern Alvida contacted you in the last couple of days?" Morgan's voice was hard, and obviously unfriendly where Lenora had maintained a veneer of friendliness. No questions about which of the two had gotten impatient and began pounding on the doorframe. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"No," I shook my head, "I haven't heard from him since–" I had to stop and think about it, "Wednesday. He left a voicemail saying he was working overnight in the office." The pair looked at each other briefly, before turning back to me.

"And nothing since then," Lenora asked, her voice soft. I shook my head.

"No, not a thing. Is he missing or something? Have you checked with his company? He stays overnight a lot on their campus, doing overtime."

"Unfortunately, he's not at the RealTech campus either. We're actually here at the company's behest. His coworkers need his help on an urgent project, but no one's seen him since he left work Thursday morning. We were hoping he'd just gone home, but if he's not here, and he hasn't contacted you–" the woman trailed off, and her face was convincingly contrite. Those words deepened the pit in my stomach, but I did my best to keep calm in front of the two officers.

"I've– my Aunt told me she was trying to get ahold of him, but she hasn't been able to."

"Can you give him a call, see if he picks up?" the Lenora proposed, going so far as to pull out a Pokégear and offer it to me. I looked at the proffered device, and then back up at the woman.

"I actually don't know his number," I lied, "but I have it stored on my own Pokégear. I'll go call him on that."

"That'd work fine," the woman said without complaint, pocketing her own device.

"Do you mind if we come in while you do?" I very much did mind.

"I'd rather you didn't." The pair looked at me, their eyebrows raised like they hadn't expected the refusal. Moments passed, and it dawned on me that they might be waiting for some sort of explanation or excuse, but the truth of the matter was, I just didn't want these two goons tramping around our apartment. Lenora cleared her throat, interrupting her coworker just as he was about to break the awkward silence.

"Well, that's fine, I guess. We'll wait right here, okay?" Morgan didn't seem to think that was okay, judging by the sullen look on his face, but he didn't say anything. Was this some sort of good cop, bad cop routine? I wasn't sure, but the discontent plain in the male officer's expression didn't seem fake, nor did the contrition on Lenora's.

"Just be a moment," I told them, before pushing the door closed. I didn't miss the reflexive motion Morgan made to stop me, before he visibly held himself back and let me close the front door. I let out a sigh as the tension from the encounter drained out of me momentarily. We weren't done yet, though, and while I didn't trust these two, I did want to find out what had happened to my father. - He didn't pick up my first call, nor my second.

I did leave a message asking him to call me back, but I didn't have my hopes up.

"He's not answering," I informed the two officers, showing them the call log on my Pokégears tiny screen. Lenora leaned in close, examining the device, before levering out a hefty sigh.

"Well, that's that I suppose–" Whatever she'd been about to say next was interrupted by Morgan, who placed a hand on the door and tried to push it further open, only to find his efforts stymied by my knights, who easily kept him from making any progress.

"You'd better not be lying to us," he growled, his expression dark.

"We should go in Lenora, make sure the girl's telling the truth."

"You're not coming in here," I replied, my hammering heart going eerily steady as I watched my knights tense out of the corner of my eye. Any confrontation was forestalled, however, by Lenora physically hauling her colleague back.

"Lay off it Morgan, she said she hasn't heard anything. She's worried about her father, she's got no reason to lie to us." The woman's words were well-reasoned, if inaccurate. My complete lack of trust in city-security's 'sub-contractors' was more than enough reason to lie through my teeth to them, as the case required. Still, I wasn't about to correct the officer.

"Sorry I couldn't help you. Please, let me know if you find him," I said instead, doing my best to keep my voice level.

"You too, Ms. Alvida. Call RealTech's offices if you hear from him. Ask for their security division."

"I'll do that," I lied, trying to end the conversation, "have a good day."

"You too," the woman replied, her coworker still glowering beside her as I pushed the door shut. The sounds of the pair clomping away in their heavy combat boots made its way past the shut door, and I listened closely to their gradual retreat until I couldn't pick it up anymore.

"Mana," I looked up at my hovering partner, suspicion playing at the edges of my mind, "can you track them, see how far they go?" She nodded, before several glimmering constructs descended down, wriggling through the bottom of the doorframe and vanishing from sight.

"Knights, Maushold," I turned to my other Pokémon, "let's investigate." - We still needed to catch up to Alyssa, but I knew where she'd be for another few hours at least. That gave us the time we needed to turn over the apartment, looking for any hints about what might have happened to my missing father.

We were firmly past 'this is weird' and now into 'something is wrong,' and the solid little pit of dread in my gut (the one that'd formed when I'd learned what'd happened to my mom and hadn't gone away since) only continued to grow. I started in my parents' room, Maushold and my knights accompanying me, but none of us turned up anything more suspicious than a few crumpled notes in my father's scrawled shorthand.

We straightened them out, but none of them were any sort of smoking gun, just to-do reminders and notes relating to PSS maintenance. The hall closet seemed undisturbed, as did the living. For good measure, I powered on the PC in its mouldering corner, but there were no suspicious files or cryptic warnings left on the desktop, nor anything behind the TV stand or under the couch.

I'd almost called the whole thing off, when a squeak from the kitchen drew me over to the littlest Maus, who's wriggling bum was barely visible sticking out from beneath the refrigerator. I got there just as the sound of tearing tape heralded a triumphant cry from the Normal-type, who emerged holding a piece of paper above their head. They scampered up to the counter before laying out their prize, letting us all see the scrawled characters on the page.

There were sixteen in total, a sequence of letters, numbers, and special characters arranged seemingly randomly, with the letters intermittently upper- and lower-case. It was definitely written in my dad's handwriting, but I couldn't make heads nor tails of the cryptic note.

"Any ideas?" I asked my partners, but they were all as confused by the piece of paper as I was. In the end, I typed out the sequence in my Pokégear, sequestering it away in a memo application, before having Maushold replace the note in its hiding place beneath the fridge.

"Mana, did our new friends actually leave?" I asked as I started packing what I'd need for a day out of the apartment.

"Waaaashi," Mana denied, shaking her body. A quick pantomime from some artfully arranged constructs gave me a solid idea of where the interlopers were.

"They didn't even go a block?" My partner nodded, and formed another shape in the air.

"A truck? They have a truck?" Another nod. More and more suspicious. These two weren't just watching our apartment, they were camping out here. What the hell had my dad gotten himself into? I was worried. On some level, I was freaking out. But at the end of the day, I didn't know where he was, and I wasn't sure how much danger he was in. The same wasn't true for Alyssa. One crisis at a time. I finished packing my bag with everything I thought I might need and slung it over my shoulder.

"Alright everyone, let's get moving. Mechry Stadium awaits." - The trip to Mechry Stadium was tense. And not just from my personal anxieties. I passed two different ongoing Ferrum Battles on the three-block walk to the bus stop, and got no end of suspicious looks from passing civilians and security personnel alike. The latter were getting closer and closer in number to the former these days, uniformed goons forming cordons around wealthy businesses or staring down passerby from street corners.

The bus itself wasn't much better. Everyone was wound up, even sitting down, eyeing the other passengers with evident suspicion. Traffic was a Bewear, far worse than it usually was, maybe because it was a weekend. It was closing in on noon when we finally got to Mechry Stadium, but that shouldn't have been a problem. A stadium meant a tournament, rather than a single match, and there was no chance my best friend was going to get knocked out early.

I had to fork over more Poké Gold than I'd have preferred for tickets for my knights and I, but at least I could get one. Before public order had started declining, walking up to a stadium with an active tournament going on and getting a ticket at the door would have been impossible. Now, the stands were only half-full, and nowhere near as raucous or rowdy as you'd expect. Instead, a pall sat over the arena, even in spite of the ongoing spectacle everyone was here to watch.

There was a sense of manic tension, like the spectators were doing their best to focus on the battle in front of them and nothing else. Not that the current fight was a lot to write home about. Last year, a low-level Green League match would have impressed me. Now, I was pretty sure Mana could take most of the competitors we were watching. Of course, there were always exceptions. Shortly after I settled into my seat, Alyssa walked out onto the pitch for what the announcer proclaimed was her second match of the day.

In a sixty-four person, single-elimination event, that meant victory would put her in the top eight. Each match was best-of-three rounds, with a round going until one side was out of syn, or until two minutes had passed. To fit all of the competitors into the four-hour time slot the tournament occupied, multiple matches had to go on at the same time. If everyone's battles were as fast as my best friend's, that wouldn't have been the case.

One minute to knock her opponent out in the first round, and another to do so again in the second. It took longer for the officials to set up the field, mention sponsors, lead the competitors onto the pitch, and read out their match history than it did for Alyssa to close out her battle. The other match on the field ended after another five minutes, which left us taking an intermission for the top eight.

I was just standing up to go get a hold of some overpriced concessions when a familiar face materialized right next to me.

"And where have you been?"

"Serpent's Taint!"

"Falinks!" My knights and I cursed as Mr. Gima's smarmy mug appeared in our vision. I fell back into my seat in surprise, and held a hand to my heart, which felt like it was about to beat its way free from my chest.

"Can you fucking not?"

"Language," the man admonished me with a chiding tone as Ink snickered into a paw behind him, "that's a hefty swear for a teenage girl to be throwing around."

"Oh fuck off," I growled, my normally high-pitched voice far coarser for my efforts yesterday.

"Someone's testy," the Unovan man tutted, "really, we're the ones who should be upset," he gestured back at his Vulpine partner.

"Seriously, where have you been?"

"I–" for a few moments, I considered not explaining, but if I was going to tell Alyssa what happened, and I was, then there was no avoiding Mr. Gima hearing about it as well.

"I got called to the hospital last night. My mom was in an accident at work. She– she needed an emergency teleport to Kanto for specialty treatment." To his credit, the Unovan man didn't quip or quibble in the face of my explanation.

"Well– shit. I'm sorry to hear that Fione," he said, face pallid.

"As far as reasons go, that's a pretty good one. Did you go with her?" I nodded.

"Yeah. That's why I wasn't able to pick up Alyssa's call this morning."

"So, what are you doing back here then?" Mr. Gima asked, his expression incredulous.

"Shouldn't you still be halfway across the world?"

"Okay, this is going to sound crazy," I winced, "but I sort of met a psychic over there and, um–" I trailed off, trying to find a way to explain.

"Why is that crazy?" the Unovan man asked, taking my hesitance for a finished explanation.

"How else would you have teleported?"

"I wasn't done," I told him, holding up a hand. He fell obligingly silent, and I took a few more moments to reason out what to say.

"She, um, apparently she's an oracle? And she told me that I needed to come back here, to Ferrum, for Alyssa's sake. Then, she teleported me back from Kanto." A few awkward moments passed. Ink gave my knights a look that said 'are you hearing this?' to which he received solemn nods of confirmation.

"That's a hell of a tale," the Mr. Gima finally settled on, skepticism coloring his tone.

"I know it sounds wild," I rushed to qualify, "but she was a really strong trainer, and powerful enough to teleport us across the planet twice in the same day, so I'm sort of inclined to take her at her word on this." That argument forestalled whatever the Unovan man had been about to say next, and he settled instead into a contemplative quiet for a few moments.

"Well when you put it like that–" he mused, "exactly what sort of prophecy did this oracle give you?"

"She was pretty vague, but she said that Alyssa was going to need me in the near future. That's why I hustled over here pretty much as soon as I got back. She woke me up at three AM Kanto time to teleport us, so I figured it had to be at least somewhat urgent." Mr. Gima's eyes sharpened, and he sent a quick glance around the arena.

"Alright, now I'm actually getting worried. I'll swing by wherever they've got the competitors hidden away and tell Alyssa to be on her guard. Why don't you and your partners do a quick patrol of the stadium, make sure nothing untowards is going on."

"Sounds good," I nodded. I'd have to grab something to eat on the way, but if you were ever going to find a place with food well-suited for on-the-go eating, it'd be in a Ferrum stadium.

"Meet back here after the finals?"

"See you then," the man nodded, "and if you see anything suspicious, call me right away." And with that, he was gone. I bit back another curse. I was getting mighty sick of these vanishing acts.

"Well guys," I turned to my knights, "let's go on a walk." The thought of forcing a confrontation with Alyssa's unseen stalker was intimidating, but we didn't have much of a choice if we were ever going to free her from the looming threat. And the sooner we dealt with her issues, the sooner I could focus on my own. My knights and I stood up from our seats and walked down the rows of bleachers. A yawning gate loomed ahead of us, and after just a moments hesitation, I led us through, into the bowels of the stadium.

We were on the hunt.