CHAPTER 5: The Rescuers

Sofia lay under the covers, gazing up at the roof. Her eye lazily followed one 
of the deeper cracks, as it zig-zagged across the ceiling. A quick glance at the 
grimy, muck covered excuse for a window assured her that it was morning, at 
least. Though how bright or gloomy, she couldn't make out through the dirt. 
Sighing, she checked her watch, and managed to climb out of the bed. As she 
threw some clothes on, she realised that she felt a lot better. Having cried 
herself to sleep, it was as if a weight had been lifted from her chest. None of 
her problems were gone; but she felt slightly detached from them, and in a 
strangely good mood.

Not long afterwards, Alex appeared at her door, looking much exhausted, with 
dark rings around his eyes. He had the good grace to look ashamed. "Uh... 
Sofia?"  
Giving him a withering glare, she snapped a response, "What!?"
"You... Um, you have another mission today..."
"Huh! I wish you would give me more warning about these!" But there was no real 
anger in her words.
"I'm sorry..." He was bright red, and looking at the floor as if wishing it 
would just swallow him up. 

Sofia relented. It wasn't in her nature to hold grudges unfairly; she would 
always argue with herself about it... And always lose. If Alex was happy, then 
she should be pleased for him, she thought to herself. Sighing, she shouldered 
her pack. "It's not your fault, Alex. Let's go?"
They walked towards the main hall in silence. Sofia didn't seem to want to ask 
about last night, and Alex was glad for that.
"I..." Alex broke off. Struggling with his embarrassment, he continued, "I wont 
be going with you on this mission..."
Sofia was shocked by the news. "Who...who will...?"
"Four guys... Be careful, Sofia. This is a dangerous mission. The others... 
they're well suited to it. They're dangerous too" His voice had an ominous tinge 
of worry.
 Upon entering the hall, Rhiannon appeared as if from nowhere, and gave Alex a 
kiss on the lips that seemed to go on just a bit too long, as if she was just 
doing it to annoy Sofia. It was working. Scuffing her feet impatiently, Sofia 
coughed to try and get Rhiannon to disengage from Alex for long enough for her 
mission briefing.

Finally, after an eternity, Rhiannon broke away from Alex, and turned to face 
Sofia. She began to explain the mission.
"You're going to actually get a little bit of action; that's what you want, 
right?" The patronizing tones chafed Sofia, but she simply clenched her fists 
and remained silent. After a moment, Rhiannon continued. "Well, you're going to 
help rescue some of our members, who happen to have been captured-"
Suddenly, Sofia's interest was sparked. She interupted Rhiannon midsentence. 
"Who...?" Rhiannon ignored her, and went on. 
"- from a police van transporting them to a high security facility. If the 
police get them there, we wont be able to get them out; doubtless they'll be 
tortured, and give away vital information...You'll be working with four others; 
Adam, Tim, James and Dan." She pointed to a group of four men who stood idly 
chatting to eachother a short distance away. Looking over, they saw Rhiannon 
beckoning, and hurried across to where they were standing.

The first was a young man in his late teens, with curly dark brown hair that was 
threatening to spill over his eyes. He had an unshaven, rough appearance, which 
matched his solid, powerful build. He introduced himself as Adam. Next to him 
stood Tim. A short, dark man, also in his late teens, sporting a jet black 
goatee. His hair, of the same colour, was shorter, but much messier than Adams. 
Although he was short, he was also clearly muscled. He wore glasses, through 
which looked out intense brown eyes. James was the tallest one of the group, 
well above six feet, and though around the same age, he had a young looking 
face. He towered over the others, his short, light brown hair sparkling in the 
morning sunlight that poured through the windows. He had long, rangy arms, and 
though taller, didn't look as powerful as Tim or Adam. She couldn't see his 
eyes, as he was wearing dark sunglasses. Last was Dan. He was the shortest of 
the group, and somewhat chubby. His round face was topped with a silly-looking 
hat. He saw her staring at his hat, misinterpreted it, and grinned back at her.

Sofia looked at their belts; each of them had four pokeballs, and suddenly 
realised that they were all armed. Adam had two pistols tucked safely away. Tim 
had two curved swords across his back, while James had a long katana stored in 
an elaborate sheath. Dan had a selection of knives, including several designed 
for throwing. Sofia swallowed nervously. These four looked as dangerous as 
Alex's ominous voice had implied. On the previous raid, there had been no overt 
weapons, and she had felt safer. Somehow, although she was to work with them, 
the fact they had weapons made her nervous. Perhaps because it made her realise 
that this was in fact a serious and hazardous mission. Turning, she realised 
that Rhiannon had left. Alex looked at her, and smiling briefly, said, "Good 
luck Sofia. These guys are four of our best; they'll keep you safe." Abruptly, 
he turned and walked away.

Swallowing her nervousness, Sofia followed the four men to a nondescript van, 
which was a lot smaller than the one she had ridden in previously. Getting in, 
Sofia wondered what she had gotten herself into.

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Twenty minutes into the journey, Sofia was beginning to doubt whether these four 
could really be 'four of our best'. They bickered like little children! She 
watched in bewilderment as Dan struggled to eat an orange. His short fingers had 
no discernable nails, they were so well chewed back. Dan continued vainly 
attempting to peel it. Adam was glaring at him. 
"You retard" called Tim from the driver's seat, smirking at Dan's ineptitude. 
"Here, give me that!" James, finally irritated into action, grabbed the orange 
from Dan, who gave a wail of despair. He was cut short by Adam cuffing him 
roughly on the head.
"Shut up!" he said darkly.

Within moments, James had peeled the orange, and handed it back to Dan. Who 
promptly managed to make the biggest mess Sofia had ever seen from one orange. 
It was all she could do not to laugh, watching Dan attempt to pull the orange 
into segments.
James growled. "You stumpy moron! What are you doing!?" Sofia watched in 
disbelief as Dan jammed his fingers angrily into the orange.
"Don't call me a moron!" He gave the orange a vicious yank, and sprayed the 
juice into Adam's eye. 
"Aargh! You IDIOT!" he yelled, his hand flying to his eye. "I'm gonna kill you!"

Sofia stilfed a giggle, and said, "Dan, would you like a hand with that orange?"
"Er... Yeah, I guess!" he said. She deftly broke the orange into its segments, 
and gave them to Dan.
James grinned. "Good thing you helped him there... Or he'd probably have managed 
to maim himself with it!"
There was a considerable pause before Dan realised that he'd been insulted. 
"Hey! Take that back!"
"Make me, Stumpy!"

Sofia leaned back and grinned. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad afer all.

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They left the van parked at the side of the road, ready for their getaway. Tim 
explained their plan to Sofia. "We're going to have some kind of diversion on 
the road here. The police van is due shortly. They'll see the diversion, and 
hopefully stop and get out. Then we simply get on with rescuing whoever the 
prisoners are, and get outta here."
"You don't know who it is either?"
"Nope... it's top secret, or something."
"What are you going to use as a distraction?"
"Ah... that's part of the problem. I don't know yet....?" He grinned sheepishly. 
"There must be something round here somewhere... If it comes to it, we'll just 
park the van in the middle of the road, though if they crash into it, we'll be 
in trouble..."

The five of them began to search the area. Sofia recognised it as the stretch of 
road near where she had lost Grouch... The memory still stung, and fouled her 
mood. 
"Hey, I've found something!" Dan yelled out from in the long grass.

The others all ran over, to see a metallic pokemon, looking somewhat battered 
and clearly injured. "A magnemite!" Sofia said under her breath. Without 
realising it, she had already taken out Fleance's pokeball, and held it ready 
for battle.
"Want to capture it, eh?" grinned Adam. "Go for it!"

Fleance appeared from his pokeball. Seeing his opponent, he barely needed the 
nod from Sofia. Injured as it was, the magnemite was in no condition to fight 
back, and succumbed to a quick karate chop attack. Throwing one of her two 
remaining pokeballs, the magnemite was easily contained. Recalling Fleance, she 
immediately released the magnemite to administer potion to it. 
"I wonder how you got out here, and how you were injured... Were you abandoned?" 
There was a buzzing noise in response, but Sofia had no idea what the magnemite 
meant by it. "You need a name... How about Voltaire?"
Adam called her from the road. "You done yet, Sofia? We found this log. It's 
right next to the road. We need someone to go look out for the van..." He 
pointed down the road.
Sofia nodded her understanding, and jogged up to the nearby bend round a hill. 
Suddenly, she saw the van in the distance, approaching fast! She yelled out to 
the others, who maneuvered the log onto the road with much grunting. They ran to 
the long grass, and hid themselves.

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Sergeant Henessee pushed his root down on the accelerator pedal of the police 
van he was driving. Glancing at the attractive policewoman seated next to him, 
Constable Griegsson, he said, "Constable, could you check up on the back?"
With a flick of her long, blonde hair, she nodded in response, before turning 
and opening the shutter to the back compartment of the van. She peered through 
the metal grill, and called out, "You alright back there?"
"Yeah, we're good. These two slimeballs are still safe"
"Good..."
With that curt reply, she closed the shutter once more.

"Those two are nasty pieces of work, Constable" the sergeant told her, as if she 
needed reminding. "Hah, the Linnaeus brothers.... I'm almost honoured to have 
two such infamous criminals in my charge!"
"I still can't believe that they were helping the rebels... It doesn't seem to 
fit that they'd help anyone!" Griegsson wondered out loud.
"Those two scum suckers will do anything if they think that there's something in 
it for themselves." spat Henessee. He slowed slightly as he approached a sharp 
bend; even as he rounded it, he knew something was wrong. His eyes widened in 
shock as he saw the huge log on the road. Slamming on the brakes, he was jarred 
forwards, and then slammed back into his seat as the van screeched to a halt. 

Griegsson's seatbelt was already off, and her hand was already at her door 
handle. 
"Stop!" ordered Henessee. "It's obviously a trap. How the hell else would a log 
end up in the middle of the road? There're no trees nearby, and there's no 
foliage on that log anyway." Henessee's sharp mind was already racing through 
possible scenarios that the ambushers could try. He drew his gun, and nodded to 
her. Similarly armed, she slowly opened her door, after warning the men in the 
back to stay inside the van. Henessee threw open his door, and jumped out. For a 
seemingly interminable amount of time, he stood, his nerves on the very edge, 
waiting for the inevitable attack. Sighing with relief when nothing happened, 
the went to the back and opened it. The eight policemen inside looked out at him 
nervously, clutching their issue truncheons, ready for action. He grinned 
reassuringly at them, with a confidence that he didn't feel, doubt still gnawing 
at him.
"I'm gonna need help moving the log-" Henessee stopped in mid sentence, his 
mouth forming an 'o' of utter shock. The young lance constable in front of him 
seemed no less surprised to see a knife magically growing out of his neck. With 
a gurgle, he toppled over, as a thick, obnoxious fog of black gas covered them. 
Henessee choked, struggling to breathe. This is the end, he thought, as he fell 
to his knees. "Griegsson..." he managed to gasp out. 

The constable had disappeared. As he forced himself back to his feet, his 
breathing still ragged, he turned and saw four figures approaching, deep black 
shadows in the dark smoke. A grim look came over his face as he saw his enemy 
and rasped out to his command. 
"Alright boys, let's get 'em!"

They were the last words he uttered; suddenly the shadows were upon him, and a 
sharp, curved blade sliced through his neck as another pierced his chest. 
Toppling over, he could only watch as the shady figure stepped dispassionately 
over him, the pain blurring his vision. Slowly, even the pain left him, and his 
head rolled to the side, staring with sightless eyes.

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Sofia stood by Dan's weezing, as it continued to belch out a thick, acrid 
smokescreen. Tim, Adam, James and Dan had disappeared into the gas, and already 
she could hear the sounds of fighting. There were loud cracks from pistols, and 
screams from wounded men. She shuddered to think of the wounds that were being 
inflicted on innocent people. Suddenly, movement in the very edges of her vision 
caught her attention. She spun around in alarm, and saw a beautiful woman in 
police uniform standing behind her, a pokeball in her hand. 

Griegsson released her pidgeotto, expecting an easy victory over the 
unsuspecting young girl's weezing. But to her shock, the girl stood between the 
pidgeotto and the weezing, and released another pokemon, a battered looking 
magnemite!
"What are you doing, you stupid girl?" Griegsson yelled, frustrated that the 
lifting of the smokescreen would be delayed, and that her opponent now had type 
advantage. 
"Stopping you!" Sofia retorted. She realised that the other four were relying on 
weezing to remove the police advantage of superior numbers and firearms. 

Without bothering to waste any more words in pointless conversation, Griegsson 
ordered her pidgeotto to use a peck attack, while she released a spearow from 
her other pokeball, and ordered it to attack the weezing. Sofia was stunned for 
a moment, but soon in the rush of the pokemon battle, managed to overcome her 
surprise. 
"Voltaire, use a thunder wave on the spearow!" That should remove the threat to 
weezing, she thought to herself. He fingers fumbled with her belt, as she 
hurriedly grabbed another pokeball. "Go, Killer! Quickly, use fury swipes on 
that pidgeotto!"

Voltaire turned away from the pidgeotto, and launched a thunder wave attack at 
the spearow as it attempted to dart past to weezing. It was knocked to the 
ground, but only moments after Voltaire had attacked, it was itself hit by a 
vicious attack from the pidgeotto. Despite a type advantage, Voltaire was 
knocked away from the spearow, before it could do any more damage. It looked for 
a way past the pidgeotto to its target, the prone spearow which was already 
struggling to raise itself and continue its own attack. Suddenly, from nowhere, 
Killer slammed into the pidgeotto's side, both pokemon rolling away in a ball of 
fur and feathers. Voltaire took the opening, and used a thundershock attack to 
finish off the weakened spearow.

Griegsson looked on, enraged. "To hell with this!" she screamed. With a 
practiced motion, she drew her pistol, took careful aim, and fired.

Sofia saw the tide of the battle turning in her favour, and began to smile, when 
suddenly there was a loud bang, and searing pain flared in her right shoulder. 
Waves of fiery anguish coursed through her body. She screamed in agony, falling 
to her knees. Looking up, she saw the victorious Griegsson stride over to her. 
With a smug smile, she raised her pistol again. Slowly, Sofia began to topple 
over, all sound and pain fading as everything turned once more to darkness.

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