CHAPTER 6: The Devils Within

Sofia groaned. There was a consistent throbbing pain all over her body, that 
just wouldn't go. Groggily opening her eyes, she saw Nurse Joy's face as it 
slowly came into focus. Alex was stanging next to her, his face radiating 
concern. He smiled as soon as he saw her eyes open. 
"Sofia...!"
"Wha-" She was cut off by an involuntary gasp of pain, as she tried to push 
herself into a sitting position. 
"Stay still, dear" Joy ordered in a gentle voice. "We've removed the bullet, and 
patched you up nicely, but you're going to have to rest for a while."
"How... How long... was I out?" Sofia asked. "What happened?"
"You've been unconscious for almost an entire day now. As for what happened, 
I'll leave that for your friend to tell" 

She turned and left, as Alex began to explain.
"According to Adam, they'd just finished dealing with the policemen, when they 
heard a gunshot. They ran over to where they heard it, and saw you lying on the 
ground, with a policewoman aiming her gun at you. They... uh... removed the 
threat, and then brought you back here. Your pokemon are all here as well, don't 
worry." he said, forestalling her next question. "Nurse Joy's looked after you 
again. She says you're one of her best 'customers'. You spend most of your time 
her unconscious, so you complain less!" 
His voice was swimming with relief, and she was touched by his anxiety for her.
"Did... did any of the police... survive..?"
"No... I'm sorry..."

Sofia sat back, appalled by the information. Not a single survivor! She took a 
moment to recover.
"So, who were the prisoners we rescued then? The ones who cost the lives of all 
those people..."
Alex's face darkened, and he hesitated.
"We... We had no idea who they were, you see..." He broke off uncomfortably. 
Exasperated, Sofia demanded, "But who were they?"
"Uh... the Linnaeus brothers..."
"Who?" Sofia's brow wrinkled in confusion. "I've never heard of them..."
"What!?" Alex looked shocked. "They're notorious criminals! They're both pokemon 
trainers, who've had their licenses revoked, for killing pokemon! They're 
brutal, vicious and... and... well, just evil! They were wanted for murder in 
all three states! Not to mention counts of, theft, arson, assault... The list 
goes on!"
"OK.... I think I get the idea..."
"I'm not sure if you do... I'm beginning to wonder why we were sent to rescue 
these guys! They're scum! They think they're above the law, when they're so far 
below it..." He ground to an angry halt.
"Well, there are those who would say the same of the KLF" Sofia said gently. The 
look of hurt and anger in Alex's eyes shocked her.
"How dare you..." he said quietly, though his anger was clear in the tightness 
of his voice. "Never compare us to them... I'd have thought you would understand 
by now!"
"Sorry... I didn't mean it..." Sofia looked away, burning with embarrassment. 
'How could I have been so insensitive!?' she cursed herself.

Alex shook his head. "I'm sure you didn't. You don't know just how notorious 
these two are. I'm quite surprised you haven't heard of them. They are pretty 
infamous, you know..."
It was Sofia's turn to snap. "I led a sheltered childhood, OK? Can we move on 
now?"
"Heh, sorry, guess I hit a nerve there too."

Sofia suddenly grinned. "We sure have been grumpy today! Well, go on, tell me 
more about these guys."
"They're brothers, but their personalities are totally different. The younger 
brother, Carolus, likes to use pokemon with powerful attack stats. It suits his 
aggressive personality. When he battles, he gets really into it. The match that 
got him banned was a Kanto League semi final. He ordered his scizor to keep 
attacking long after the opponents pokemon was down, and he watched with 
pleasure as the poor thing was hacked to pieces." Alex's voice was thick with 
disgust, and Sofia didn't blame him. Though she had only been a trainer for a 
short while, she already felt attached to her pokemon, and understood the 
horror.
"That's not even close to the worst of it. He was detained by the League and 
about to face charges, but he escaped, and not before killing three guards with 
his bare hands... Their bodies were completely mutilated. He... They say he must 
have enjoyed it."

Sofia failed to repress a shudder. She was in the same building as this man! 
Alex went on.
"The older brother, Linus... If anything, he's worse than his brother, if that's 
even possible! He also got banned in a league battle, but unlike his brother, he 
shows no emotion. He kills in cold blood, often for no reason; he takes no 
pleasure from it like Carolus. He uses pokemon that have high special attack 
stats. He was one of the favourites for Hoenn League champ until his true nature 
became apparent. He wasn't detained by the league, since unlike his brother, it 
wasn't immediately obvious that he intended for the pokemon to be killed. But he 
was banned, for life. They say that's why... he killed the opponent whose 
pokemon died, before he disappeared like his brother. I should tell you, it 
wasn't the other four who killed all the cops. They killed the leader, and the 
rest surrendered soon after. They also killed the one who shot you. But when 
they got back to where they'd left the disarmed policemen, they'd all been 
murdered. No prizes for guessing the culprits."

As Alex sat, brooding, Sofia felt terrified. Two cold blooded murderers. All of 
a sudden, she was exhausted. Alex saw her slump backwards, and said, "You should 
get some sleep. You lost a lot of blood. I'll come back to check on you again 
later. Look, I can see you're upset, but the others, Dan, Tim, Adam and James... 
they're not bad guys. You should give them a second chance" With a fleeting 
smile, he was gone.

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Sofia glared at the knife as if that would make it go away. She'd been kept in 
bed by Nurse Joy for two days, and upon her release, she was detained to kitchen 
work, helping Laura, the vast, imperious cook with an ego to match her physical 
size. Sofia didn't take long to demonstrate her ineptitude in the kitchen, 
earning the disgust of all the others, by utterly ruining an entire lunch within 
ten minutes of her arrival. Now she'd been delegated to the simple jobs, though 
Laura was still doubtful of her ability to even cut carrots, and would preside 
over her every action.

Sofia hurriedly chopped up the carrots, as Laura practically screamed in her ear 
to hurry up. "Come on, you slacker! This soup wont make itself! Get those 
carrots chopped NOW!"
Sofia didn't even dare to mutter angrily to herself. Laura had hearing as sharp 
as a marill, as Sofia had already learned, to her cost. She thought back to 
Nik's smug grin. 
"Well, while you're recovering, you can try your hand at cooking. You never 
know; you must be good at something!" he had said.
Remembering his smirk just fueled her anger. Scowling, she finished cutting up 
the carrots, having caused some damage to the chopping board surface in her ire. 
She whirled with her newly sliced carrots on the chopping board, only for the 
board to crash into Laura, who was still standing right behind her. As the board 
and carrots flew into the air, Laura took in an immense deep breath, and 
significantly reduced the amount of air available. Sofia tried to prepare 
herself for the scream of rage, wishing all the while that the earth would open 
up and swallow her. Although technically that was a lie. She'd much rather it 
swallowed up Laura. But it would have to open it's mouth quite wide to manage 
that feat, she thought glumly, as the pent up rage was released in a noise that 
physically threw her backwards.

Sofia sat down at the empty table with a sigh of relief, plonking her bowl of 
soup down in front of her. She ate slowly, and on her own. So far, the only 
person who had sat near her of their own volition were Alex, and he was nowhere 
to be seen. She couldn't blame the others really; to them she was still a total 
stranger. Up until recently, she'd had all her meals in the confinement of her 
room. Or prison, as it really was. Brooding glumly, she was startled when 
someone sat down opposite her. It was a man, who looked in his mid twenties. He 
had short brown hair, and an attractive face, Sofia realised, blushing as he 
smiled at her. Trying not to stare rudely, she wondered who this guy was, and 
why he'd decided to sit near her... Don't flatter yourself, said her internal 
editor. 

The stranger continued to eat his food, not taking any notice of her. Fidgeting 
as she struggled to think of a way to start conversation, she accidentally 
knocked over her glass of water. Before she'd even managed to gasp at her own 
clumsiness, the stranger's hand had shot out and caught it, as it began to tip 
over. He looked up and smiled at her again.
"Something on your mind?"
"Uh... No, sorry, uh... HiI'mSofia!" She managed to babble out.
"Ah, so you're Sofia! It seems I owe you my thanks."
"Huh? What for...?" Sofia was genuinely baffled.
"For helping rescue me, of course!" He chuckled softly. "And taking a bullet in 
the process. Yes indeed, I owe you my gratitude!"

Sofia froze, her eyes widening in shock. Then this man must be...
"Linus Linnaeus" He said, extending his hand with a grin, a grin that a moment 
before had made her blush, but now chilled her very soul. Quivering slightly 
with fear, Sofia shook hands with one of the most infamous killers in the world. 

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Flexing her shoulder with a grimace, Sofia watched as Tim and James practiced 
their sword skills on the beach, almost two weeks on from that eventful mission. 
She had been shocked to learn that they practised with real swords, and so there 
was a very real risk. "No point in practicing with blunts; it just makes you try 
less hard!" Tim had said, grinning. Sofia was still trying to adjust to the fact 
that they were in fact brutal killers, and yet they had been nothing but 
friendly towards her. Although she disliked violence and killings, she had to 
admit that they'd saved her life. 

Watching the two of them whirling round, sending sand flying up in a storm, as 
their blades flashed and flickered in the bright afternoon sun, too fast to 
follow, Sofia was astounded by their skill. 
"You ready?" Alex's called over to her from where he stood, a short distance 
away. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you!" 
"Haha, you're gonna regret that!" Sofia smirked confidently. She had improved so 
much in such a short time, and she was sure that she could at least take down 
one of his pokemon.
"How about a one-on-one? One of yours against one of mine, both chosen at 
random?"
"Sure; whatever rules you try and invent, you're still going down!"
"We'll see..."

Both of them grabbed a pokeball, and released the beast inside, Sofia wincing as 
the pain flared up in her shoulder once again. Alex's pokeball had contained his 
pidgey, Lex. Sofia had let out... Grace! She groaned. 
"Can I-"
"No! Hehehe, tough luck Sofia!"
"Oh, shut up! Grace, quick, tackle attack!"

Grace flapped her way over to where Lex stood.
"A tackle attack, eh? How original! But then, you don't exactly have a vast 
inventory of options with a magikarp!" Alex taunted. "Lex, fly up out of attack 
range!"
Lex turned around to acknowledge his master's command, when suddenly from out of 
nowhere, Grace struck! With a squawk of shock, Lex was bowled over. Picking 
himself up, more angry than injured, he flapped his stubby wings and hovered in 
the air just out of range of Grace.
"Not bad for a magikarp!" Alex confessed.
"Yeah, she's been trained well. Now stand and fight, you coward!" Sofia yelled, 
frustrated, as Lex flapped lazily above Grace, who jumped up and down 
ineffectually. Alex just grinned. 
"OK, she wants a fight, she'll get one. Gust!"

A huge burst of wind came from the tiny pidgey's frantically flapping wings, 
picking Grace up, and depositing her roughly a few metres away. Doggedly, she 
jumped her way back over the the airborne pidgey, and continued to attempt to 
attack. 
"Hahahaha! She just doesn't learn. Kinda like her trainer, don't you think?" 
Alex said to Lex, who seemed to coo in agreement.
"Stop mocking us!" shouted Sofia, stamping in a childish fit of rage. 
"OK then... Lex, let's stop mocking them... and finish them off! Another gust, 
if you please!"

Once more, Grace was thrown back and slammed into the sand, as Lex unleashed 
another powerful gust attack. Refusing to give up, Grace bounced her way back 
over to Lex. 
"Yeah! Atta girl, Grace! You can do it!" Sofia yelled out encouragement.
"Do what? Splash around pointlessly!? Lex, let's get this over with. I'm getting 
bored. Peck it!"
As Lex prepared to deliver the coup de grace, Grace was getting more and more 
agitated. Suddenly, she began to glow a bright white, forcing Alex and Sofia to 
turn their eyes away. Sofia, unsure as to what was happening, heard a fearsome 
roar of pure rage, and turned around in shock to see that Grace had evolved.... 
into a gyarados! The huge and brutal sea serpend writhed angrily, growling from 
her open jaws, jaws lined with razor sharp teeth. Slowly, the sun glinting off 
her sparkling blue scales, Grace turned to face Lex, who flapped defiantly. 
However, another deafening roar was enough to break the last shreds of Lex's 
courage, and he fled back to his trainer. 

Sofia was stunned. Could this vast monster really be Grace? She walked slowly 
towards it, somewhat afraid. Grace stayed still, as she gently stroked its 
scaled back. Still not able to believe that she now had such a huge pokemon in 
her team, Sofia returned Grace to her pokeball, before regaining her composure 
to mock Alex. He was just as stunned as she'd been, but managed to make a 
similarly speedy recovery.
"You got lucky... Again! I can't believe how many times you do that!"
"That wasn't luck, it was skill! I knew Grace was about to evolve. You taunting 
her helped, of course!"
"Oh, stop rubbing it in!" He grinned good naturedly. 

They all jumped into the van together. Nick had decided to stop blindfolding her 
to and from training. Though he might not have meant it, the gesture certainly 
held significance for Sofia. She felt much more a part of the group now. She 
grinned as Dan, who was still standing when Tim started the van, fell over with 
a crash as they accelerated away.

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As they sat eating, Tim and Adam filled Sofia in on some information on the next 
mission.
"It's big... very big..." said Adam, between mouthfuls of chicken leg.
"We're hitting the power plant; it's a stealth mission. We're to plant 
explosives! This can only mean some huge plan is being made!"

Sofia was gobsmacked. "That's the main power supply to Cerulean... why would the 
Vermillion branch be targetting Cerulean?"
"We don't know; rumours are that this came from Central HQ. That's the really 
odd thing about our hierarchy. None of us know who the boss at Central is, but 
he, or she probably knows who all of us are..."
"Doesn't that strike you as suspicious?" Sofia realised that she probably 
shouldn't be surprised by this fact. If the leader was known, that would put 
them at huge risk.
"No.... the secrecy is necessary, for safety, you see" Tim said, while across 
from him, Dan, while drinking his water, suddenly started choking.

Slapping him hard on the back, James said, "You moron, Stumpy! How many times do 
we have to tell you, stop breathing while you drink!"
Dan looked as if though he wanted to retort, but he was too busy coughing. Sofia 
supressed a giggle. Tim smiled as well, as James whacked Dan so hard that he was 
pushed face down into his food. Spluttering in rage, he grabbed a chicken leg, 
and wielded it clumsily. Finally managing to stop his choking, he growled, 
"Right, you're gonna get it now, James...!" 

Shaking the chicken leg menacingly, he accidentally let it go. It flew away 
behind him, and hit someone on the back of the head. Dan and James froze, in a 
plateau of embarrassment, before hurriedly pretending nothing had happened. 
However, the victim of the thrown chicken leg had other ideas. He stood up, and 
Sofia was amazed at his size. Standing well over 6 feet high, and evidently 
hugely muscled through his t-shirt, he turned around slowly, revealing a savage 
face, pitted with the scars of many a battle. His short hair simply added to his 
thuggish appearance. His giant fists clenched in fury, he began to walk over to 
their table.

Tim looked somewhat worried, which was in itself worrying. "That's Carolus 
Linnaeus!" he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
"......"  Sofia gasped, a sharp, shocked intake of air. She froze, and stared 
ahead, trying to act as nonchalantly as possible. 

The entire table rocked, as a huge fist pounded down heavily on one end. Carolus 
glared at the small group of diners. "Whose chicken is this?" he demanded, in a 
quiet voice laden with threat. Sofia swallowed nervously, and tried to avoid eye 
contact. She could sense his rage building up, and then suddenly Linus was at 
his brothers side, whispering something to him. Carolus calmed down, and Linus 
gave him a pat on the shoulder, before sending him back to his seat. Linus faced 
Sofia, and said, "I apologise for my brothers behaviour. Alas, he has a very 
short temper. I do hope no offense was caused." He flashed another smile. "And 
now, if you'll excuse me, my friends" He walked away to his own seat. 

Sofia wiped sweat from her forehead, and saw the others breathe out in relief. 
"That was close!" she said.
"Closer than you know..." muttered Adam. "'Short temper'... hah! Understatement 
of the year!"
"Well, we're lucky it didn't come down to a fight. I'd probably have just thrown 
Dan out to him, and we could have escaped while he ripped him apart!" James 
said.
"What! You wouldn't.... would you?" Dan had put on his puppy dog face, which 
just prompted James to cuff him roughly on his head. 
"Shut up and eat the rest of your meal, you idiot!"
Still looking hurt, Dan continued to eat, as Sofia smiled once more at their 
antics.

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All clad in black, Adam, Tim, James, Dan, Alex and Sofia stood silently in the 
darkness of the night, looking at the empty power plant. Hidden behind a small 
cluster of bushes a good distance from the main path, they watched as a guard 
with a growlithe walked past, shining his torch carelessly in front of him, 
barely even glancing their way. Even so, Sofia's heart was still racing, and 
only once he had moved on out of sight did she start breathing again. Next to 
her, Tim whispered into her ear, "This checks out with the information from 
Central. That guy's the only guard on the outside; Sofia, wait here until he 
comes back, then take him down. Don't let him use his phone, or we'll have to 
deal with backup..." Sofia nodded, suddenly terribly afraid. She didn't have any 
idea how to 'take him down', let alone stop him using his phone! 

Tim grinned, his teeth glinting in the darkness. "OK, he'll be back in about 
five minutes. We're off now, we shouldn't be too long!" And with a metallic 
clink of unsheathed weapons, they were gone. Slowly a plan formed in Sofia's 
mind. The first thing was to get rid of the growlithe... She fished around in 
her pack, and found the remains of lunch; checking inside the sandwhiches that 
remained, she saw that there was meat. "Excellent!" she whispered to herself. 
Leaving the sandwhich on the floor, she released Grace, who was thankfully too 
sleepy to give off her customary roar of defiance. Sofia whispered to her, "Wait 
here, and use water gun up into the air on my command!" Growling quietly in 
acknowledgement, Grace curled up and became completely still. Sofia walked over 
to the path slowly, deep in thought. Another idea came to her. She released 
Voltaire, and left it a small distance from the path, just out of sight in the 
pitch black of the night. Hoping that the guard wouldn't suddenly become 
observant, she told it to wait there. Then she walked back to the path, and 
waited, fear growing in her stomach.

The seconds seemed to last for ages as she waited, shrouded in the gloom. Then, 
she slowly became aware that the guard was approaching again, his torchlight 
bright in the darkness. She signalled frantically to Grace, who complied. She 
heard the guard curse. "Dammit, rain!? And I can't even see any damn clouds!" As 
he continued to mutter, the growlithe ran off towards the sandwhich. Cursing, he 
looked up and saw Sofia. "Hey, you! Girl! What are you doing here!?"
Before he could say any more, Sofia whispered loudly, "Voltaire, thunder wave!" 
The guard's mouth opened in shock, and then the waves of paralysing electricity 
hit him, and his clothes afforded him no protection since they were soaked. 
Wordlessly, he dropped to the floor, completely immobilised. Without the need 
for any command, a water gun from Grace stopped the growlithe in its tracks.

"Yes! We did it!" Sofia gleefully rejoiced as she recalled her pokemon.
"Shhh!!!" Tim appeared silently at her side, making her jump. "You're making 
enough noise to wake the dead!"
"Don't do that! You'll give me a heart attack!" She scowled at Tim, who just 
grinned at her and vanished once more.
"Great, I guess I get to wait here until they finish inside." She stood about 
glumly, for what seemed like hours, when suddenly there came a series of huge 
explosions from within the power plant! As she strained her eyes trying to look 
for the others, Adam materialised beside her this time, making her shriek. 
Stifling a laugh, he said, "C'mon, let's get out of here before the police get 
interested!" He grabbed her arm, and dragged her off, as in the distance the 
wail of police sirens was heard.

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