Chapter Five: Agility The casino was richly furnished on the inside. There were many large wall mirrors, making the already large casino look huge. Uiru noticed their reflection in a nearby mirror. *Damn, she looks good in that dress*, he thought. *I don't look so bad myself!* "Now what are you smirking about?" Jessica asked him. "Nothing." "No, come on. What is it?" "Nothing! Look, there's a staircase over there. Probably leads down." Before they could check it out, however, one of the baccarat dealers hailed them. "Nothing down there but a half-trashed old basement," he told them. "Thank you, sir," Jessica responded sweetly. When they were out of earshot of the dealer, Uiru whispered, "You sound way too young." "Ugh." She rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't we buy some tokens or something?" "I guess." They headed for one of the many clerks at the front. "Four hundred thousand Pokéyen's worth, please," he asked. "Do you have a Coin Case?" the clerk asked him. "They cost 250 each." He didn't, of course. "I didn't mean that much," Jessica told him after. "Booster will never let you touch another credit card again." Uiru suddenly noticed an old rival at a nearby blackjack table. "There's Jeremy," he stated. "He looks drunk. I might be able to get some info out of him." Jessica agreed. "I'll go check out the kitchen. The restaurant is over there." She pointed. Uiru nodded. Uiru sat down next to Jeremy. Two other guys Jeremy's age were also playing. Although they weren't as far gone as Jeremy was, they weren't very good players. Uiru was blowing them away. "So, how's it going?" Uiru asked Jeremy between hands. "Just great," Jeremy replied. His words were slightly slurred. "My shtupid boss... Yeah, hit... My shtupid boss cut our pay, again. And he's a coward. All he does is run from this kid... Hit again..." "24," the dealer announced. "Damn," Jeremy cursed. Uiru landed on 20. Dealer had 19, and the others had 17. "I'm outta here," one of the other guys declared. "Lost enough money at this table tonight." "What kind of work do you do?" Uiru asked innocently. "Oh... Experiments..." Jeremy replied in a drunken stupor. "We take the life energy of a few pokamons, put them together, and make really big pokamons." "Do you mean Pokémons?" Uiru asked. Although he hated people saying 'Pokémons'. The plural of Pokémon was Pokémon. "Yeah, them," Jeremy answered. This time, Uiru got 25. Jeremy won for what seemed to be the first time in a while. "Shtones," Jeremy suddenly stated. "Stones? What kind of stones?" Uiru asked. "Special shtones. Power shtones," Jeremy continued. "You need them to evolve a pokamon into a giant pokamon." "And where can you get these?" "Blackjack," the dealer announced. Jeremy looked at the two cards in front of Uiru. "How'd you do that?" he asked. "A Jack and an Ace," Uiru replied. With the lucky turn of the cards, Uiru had won a ton of money. Jeremy took another swig of his drink. The other guy left the table. "So, where do you get the power stones?" Uiru asked nonchalantly. "Certain places," Jeremy answered. "There are 12, I think. I only know one's in Sheafoam." "Seafoam?" "Yeah, there. There's a special rock there, but we don't have enough Ice pokamons yet." Uiru had 18, Jeremy had 28. Dealer went over as well. "I gotta go," Jeremy said. "Gotta get back to the base. The paranoid bashtard has the shtupidest password set up." Uiru couldn't believe that this drunken idiot was about to give him the password to the base. "How stupid is it?" "Knock three times, then you gotta be quiet for 15 seconds," Jeremy answered. "Isn't that the dumbest thing you've ever heard?" "The dumbest," Uiru nodded wisely. Jeremy got up and left. The dealer looked at Uiru. "Do you have any idea what he was rambling about?" he asked. "No clue. I don't think he had a clue what he was talking about. It's usually best to go along with them though." The dealer nodded. Apparently there was some fancy reception going to take place soon. Jessica could see that the kitchen would be cleaned out as the cooks helped run the reception- perfect time to let the others in. Jessica leaned against the wall and looked around. Getting them to the door, however, would be slightly more difficult. She'd only have a moment before the kitchen filled up again, and there was no telling how many people would be left in the casino. "Excuse me, miss..." She almost jumped. It was one of the waiters. "Is everything all right?" Jessica realized it must have looked odd, just leaning on the wall. "Oh, yes, thank you. I'm fine." He looked at her. "You look kind of young... May I ask how old you are?" Cue Animé sweatdrop. "I'm, er, 21. People must seem young where I come from. Yeah, that's right. I'm not from anywhere near here. I just got here a few days ago. Do you know where Turquoise Lake is? Everybody looks younger there then here. It's only a small town on the water, lots of sun, really nice! Everyone's short though. Midgets maybe. Well, not midgets but short compared to you people. Oh geez... I'm rambling, aren't I?" *Smooth.* "Yes, miss, you are." Jessica sighed. "Great." *Okay buddy, go away so I can die now.* "And I have no idea where Turquoise Lake is." "Well, I could show you if I had a map. A big map, though." *I say that like I expect him to have one in his back pocket.* The waiter nodded. "I'll take your word for it. Enjoy your evening, miss." "Thank you very much." *I hope Uiru's having more fun then I am.* Uiru was just getting up when Jessica returned. "How'd it go?" he asked. "Perfect," Jessica lied. "I found the door where the others are waiting, but I don't know how to get them to the basement. You?" "Got a password, some data, and the location of one of Sunder Force's possible next moves." "All from Jeremy?" "Alcohol stupifies people." "Tell me later. There's some kind of reception planned. It'd be the best time to get the others in, while the cooks are distracted." Uiru nodded. He went back to the blackjack dealer, who was waiting for more players. "Hey," Uiru asked him. "What's the reception about?" "You don't know?" he replied. "It's in honor of some benefactor to the casino. It'll be starting any minute." Uiru nodded. They started walking towards the kitchen. "Incidentally, I made a killing tonight." Jessica looked at him. "Since when did you play blackjack?" Uiru shrugged. The PA system came to life. "Would the patrons of the Celadon Grand please move to the dining area now. Thank you." Everyone started moving out of the casino area. The Maitré D's were busy helping organize the dinner. "Okay, stay here," Uiru said as the kitchen emptied. "I'm gonna go get the door for the others." Uiru quickly snuck into the kitchen, and made it to the door without incident. He opened it. "Psst! Guys!" he whispered. "Took you long enough!" Geoff complained. "We've been out here for an hour!" "Be quiet!" Uiru hissed. "Everybody's going to the dining room now, so it should be easy to get you in. Wait here a sec." Amid bitter protests, Uiru went to the other side of the kitchen. Nobody could see what was going on right in the back. He waved them to come in. "Okay. After I go into the casino, carefully come up and follow me, okay?" Uiru looked up and, seeing nobody was there, nonchalantly strolled out. To Jessica he said, "They're coming." "The casino is almost empty," she reported. "Hey, there they are." Uiru wordlessly pointed at the door. The others scampered towards it. Uiru and Jessica looked around and slid in after them. After falling into Geoff, Uiru and then Allison, Jessica had had enough. She kicked off her high heels and carried them. "Why don't you just leave them?" Patrick asked. "Are you nuts? These things cost a fortune." Patrick nodded. They heard footsteps! Uiru opened a door and shoved the party in. He made sure his mustache wasn't crooked while Jessica put her heels on again. "Excuse me... But what are you doing down here?" the man asked. "I'm sorry," Uiru replied. Jessica noticed he had taken on a British accent. "We must have gotten lost. Could you direct us to the lavatories please?" The man sighed. "The johns are on the second floor, not down here. Do you know how to get back?" "Yes, we can make it," Jessica answered. "Thank you so much." The man grunted. "If you'll excuse me, I'm in a hurry." He quickly took off. When he was out of sight and earshot, Uiru opened the door. "Hey Uiru," Nick asked. "How do you fit six people in a broom closet?" "How?" "You don't." Uiru got hit in the head with a broom. "Hey, watch it. I just got my hair done." After checking all the rooms, with no avail, only one door remained. Uiru went up to it. "Locked," he whispered. He knocked three times. "Shh!" Fifteen seconds passed. The door opened. The brightly lit room was sparcely furnished. A large open space stood between the team and Lauren. "Oh, it's you," Lauren stated. "I would have thought you guys would just break down the door." "Not in my brand new suit," Uiru stated. "Uiru?!" Lauren asked. "Well, that explains how you got in here. That mustache is hideous, by the way." "I know. Anyway, to business. Give us our Pokémon." Uiru and the others stepped into the room. "Oh, I'm sorry," Lauren grinned satanically. "Sunder has already moved them to one of his new bases. He seems to like that Kadabra, and the Machoke was quite a catch. He's considering using them on his new team." "Machoke is mine," Jessica declared, "and as sure as these heels will eventually kill me, I'll get it back." "I thought you looked a bit too tall." Lauren stepped to the far side of the room. "So, who's going to challenge me?" "How about we all crack you in half?" Geoff suggested. "I could go for some of that," Nick agreed. "I'm in," Pittman agreed. Lauren faked surprise. "Uiru. Are you really going to let those brutes gang up on me? You aren't teaching your troops how to behave honorably." "No- I'm going to take you down myself!" Thomas stepped forward. "You snaked my Wartortle, bitch. I'll let it grind your bones to dust after I beat your sorry ass." "Charmeleon will have flambéd your troop to ashes long before then," Lauren declared. *It's a good thing I know her Pokémon*, Thomas thought. *Charmeleon, Kadabra, Ditto, Exeggcute, Vaporeon and Electrode.* Pittman stepped forward. "So it's come to this, has it? We were friends, Lauren! We trusted you!" Lauren shrugged. "Like that matters. I'll smash you hard, Pittman, after I deal with Tommy Boy here." Pittman stepped back, disgusted. *This will be an even fight. Thomas has Wartortle, Rhyhorn, Victreebel, Dodrio, Haunter, and Primeape. They used to train so well together...* Thomas knew she would open with her favorite Pokémon, Charmeleon. "Rhyhorn, go!" Lauren knew that he knew that. Expecting Wartortle, she sent out Electrode! "Oops!" "Rhyhorn, Rock Throw!" Rhyhorn dove at Electrode from across the room. It zipped out of the way, and responded with Thundershock. It bounced right off Rhyhorn's rocky hide, and it lunged at it again! The speedy ball dodged the attack again, and opened up with Sonic Boom. Everyone present had to cover their ears, but Rhyhorn took little damage. The third time, Rhyhorn's attack smashed Electrode. It was too weak to even Self Destruct. "Return! Vaporeon, I choose you!" "Rhyhorn, return! Victreebel, attack!" Vaporeon launched a watery blast at Victreebel. The big plant laughed at Vaporeon and grabbed it with Vine Whip, then pummeled it with Razor Leaf! The twin Grass blast was too much for Vaporeon. "Kadabra, go!" Recalling Vaporeon, Lauren sent forth her own Kadabra. "Watch it Thomas!" Uiru warned. "What?" "Victreebel is weak against Psychic type attacks!" "What!" "Kadabra, Psychic Attack!" Kadabra glowed purple, then Victreebel was slammed from all directions by waves of powerful Psychic energy. Thomas recalled Victreebel, and sent Haunter. Now Lauren was on the offencive. Haunter tried to use Hypnosis, but Kadabra stared it down and pounded it with PSY Beam. Then Thomas resent Rhyhorn! "What are you doing? You called it back already!" Lauren shouted. "So?" Thomas replied. "Fight 'til they faint! Rhyhorn, Take Down!" Rhyhorn's Take Down move is like getting hit by a train. Kadabra's puny defence couldn't take it, and it fainted. "Exeggcute, go!" Lauren shouted. "Hypnosis attack!" Now, Rhyhorn was out of it. Unlikely to awaken, Thomas recalled it. "Dodrio, go!" The squawking bird Pokémon charged at the clump of eggs. Pecking and Scratching with an unrelenting fury, it sorely squashed the Grass type. "Charmeleon, attack!" Charmeleon opened up with a Flamethrower, then charged at Dodrio. It Drill Pecked in responce but it eventually fainted. Charmeleon was badly damaged, however. "Return! Wartortle, go!" Charmeleon had no chance. "Return!" "Well?" Thomas asked. "Aren't you going to send out your Ditto?" "I... I... I don't have it right now," Lauren admitted. "Sunder took it." "Why?" Pittman asked. "Is it because you beat the Arbok?" "Why the hell did you do that, anyway?" Thomas asked. "Part of the scenario," Lauren replied. "Sunder took it because he said he wanted it. He signs my cheques, so I couldn't really argue." "Some trainer you are," Pittman declared. "Now, where's Sunder hiding?" "I'd love to tell you, but I really can't. All I'll say is, you'll kick yourselves if you ever find out where. See you later!" Lauren dropped a Smoke Bomb! When it cleared, she was gone. "Did she take any of our Pokémon?" Patrick asked. A quick search revealed that nothing had been taken, except for- "My new earrings!" Jessica shouted. "That bitch stole my earrings!"