The Misdreavus Menace

Chapter Fifteen — Prison Panic

The transporter appeared with its usual pink glow, but this time it was above a courtyard of a prison complex in the middle of the night. The hatch opened briefly, then shut, nothing appearing to have come in or gone out. By the time the prison guards had any chance to notice, comprehend and respond to the bizzare occurrence, the vehicle had teleported away.

Each ghost Pokémon that had come out of the transporter made its way invisibly and undetectedly through the compound. A Gengar led the way, followed by four Misdreavus. The Gengar had secretly explored the prison during the day so it knew the way to the cell and the way out. The prisoner they were after would not be able to escape through metre-thick concrete walls. They would have to get him out, alive, somehow, through the front door.

The ghosts solidified outside the cell, except for the Gengar who appeared on the inside.

"Geng... gar!" it whispered into the inmate's ear.

He awoke with a start, but remained quiet. No ghost Pokémon could scare him, but he could not understand what it was doing in his cell.

"Geng... gar!" it told him again, then pointed to the Misdreavus outside.

"Gengar," the man whispered, "is it you?"

"Geng!" it replied, nodding and exposing an awesome grin that would have terrified the living daylights out of anyone else.

The Misdreavus wasted no time. Four psywaves begain to work on the lock that held the cell door shut. The titanium steel mechanism intended to keep one of Kanto's most notorious prisoners behind bars could not be dented by Machamp, dissolved by Muk or destroyed by Magmar. Its one flaw, however, was that it was made of matter. Thus even the relatively weak telekinetic powers of the Misdreavus could mold it like plastic.

As the door flew open, a loud alarm rang through the building. In seconds, the place would be swarming with guards. Gengar led the man out, guarding the rear, as the Misdreavus proceeded ahead down the corridor.

Sure enough, two guards appeared, weapons raised. Four psybeams instantly knocked them senseless against the ceiling, letting them crash unconscious to the floor. The man did not even wince at the sounds of bones breaking. Another two guards appeared from behind, but a fierce night shade attack filled them with ghostly terror. They fled in panic, leaving their weapons behind them.

The group of one man and five phantoms continued their way down the corridor. By this time the prisoners had awoken and were in uproar. Some who realized what was happening demanded to be freed as well. The Pokémon ignored them. They had come to free one man and only one man, and to get him out alive.

They turned a corridor, expecting another fight, but found it empty. Up ahead, heavy metal doors blocked the way. It all seemed too easy. There were no guards to be seen. All that had to be done to get out of the prisoners' quarters was to open those doors.

As soon as they reached the doors, equally massive doors behind them slammed shut.

"What!?" exclaimed the man. Modern jails, he thought, more like a dungeon!

The Misdreavus started psybeaming the doors open, but were unable to. As soon as the doors started moving open, they would move back with a loud whir. It looked like the man was trapped.

"Attention," came an authoritative voice over a speaker. "Surrender now or you'll be subjected to tear gas."

"The doors are motorized," said the man to the Gengar. "You'll have to cut the power. Quick, find the cables."

Gengar quickly dematerialized and entered the walls, looking for the location of the cables that powered the doors' motors.

"The Pokémon are to appear one at a time," continued the voice, "and are to allow themselves to be captured."

Gengar reappeared. "Geng, geng, gar... gengar," it said, explaining what it found out to the Misdreavus. They shot out for well-aimed psybeams into the walls, following Gengar's directions. A crackly sound was heard, and the lights in the ceiling flickered twice.

Suddenly, there was a hiss. They turned around and saw a smokey gas being ejected from points in the wall.

"Try the doors again," said the man urgently. "Hurry!"

The Misdreavus psybeamed the doors again. This time they yielded easily. When the door was open enought for a person to fit, they moved through the opening, only to find themselves facing three armed guards. The escapee started to cough, so Gengar moved to the front while the Misdreavus closed the door behind them.

The guards aimed for the Gengar, just as it wanted. It veered away from the escapee, to draw the gunmen's fire, and changed to a non-solid but still visible form. The men opened fire, but the bullets went straight through. One ricocheted off the wall and grazed the man in the arm. He went down.

"I'm all right," he groaned. "Just get me out of here."

Gengar instantly solidified and responded with a confuse ray. Two guards dropped their weapons and fell to the ground, dizzy and dazed. The third shot his weapon aimlessly. One bullet struck a light in the ceiling. The other narrowly whizzed above the escapee's head.

"Bad move," he said. "Disarm him."

The two men on the ground managed to gather their senses together enough to release a Poké ball each. A Flareon and a Jolteon flashed into existence.

Gengar obeyed the order and tried to wrestle the gun away from the third guard. Although dazed, he stood his ground, not letting go. The Flareon embered Gengar, but only weakly so as not to injure the guard. At the same time, the Jolteon thunderbolted one of the Misdreavus. One of the other Misdreavus psybeamed the third guard. He lost his grip on his weapon, flew into the nearest wall, and fell down, but got up again straight away. The other two Misdreavus attacked the Flareon with their psybeams. Gengar took hold of the guard's gun and took it back to the prisoner.

Meanwhile the Misdreavus that had been struck with a thunderbolt retaliated with a pain split. The Jolteon howled as half the injury it had inflicted on its opponent was psychically transmitted back into its own body.

The three guards got up and regrouped. Two went for their weapons, the third took out his own Poké ball. Gengar and the four Misdreavus shot out a combined confuse ray, throwing the three men and two Pokémon into chaos. One guard tried to tackle his Jolteon, who electrocuted his master into unconsciousness. The Flareon fired a flamethrower, narrowly missing everyone and striking a piece of furniture. A fire alarm sounded and sprinklers came on.

Having escaped the confuse ray, the third Poké ball released an Espeon. It sized up the situation and knew what to do.

Outside the building, the transporter reappeared near the front entrance of the prison in a momentary blaze of pink. Immediately the hatch was open and two Koffing and a Weezing floated out. Within seconds the transporter was shrouded in billows of opaque gas. Veiled in their smokescreen, the three Pokémon tackled their way in through doors, sludging anyone who got in their way.

They quickly made their way towards the sounds of struggle, only to find the entire room drenched. Still standing were an Espeon, two Misdreavus and Gengar. The Espeon struck with a psychic attack and instantly another Misdreavus went down.

The two Koffing spewed globules of slimey sludge in retaliation. Unprepared for their assault, the Espeon caught the full force of the attack. It growled angrily as the vile, viscous substance penetrated down to its skin, sending its toxins into its body. Without waiting for a second chance, Weezing flew with all its might, tackling the Espeon to the ground. It tried to strike back with as much psychic force as it could muster, but its attack missed. Two more sludges from the Koffing and a night shade from Gengar finished it off.

Gengar and the last standing Misdreavus picked up their fallen companions, while the Weezing attended to the prisoner they were helping escape. With the Koffing leading the way, they quickly made their way outside. A few more smokescreens masked their getaway as the escapee held onto the Weezing lifesaver-fashion with his uninjured arm. They all floated their way up to the transporter and entered the hatch.

Seconds later, gunshots pealed as prison guards tried to prevent the escape. By the time the smoke cleared, they realized that they had been shooting into thin air.