บท 233: EPISODE 13: Birch!*
Littleroot Town, known for its admirable serene surroundings. Exactly twelve in the afternoon, we are dropped by my- I mean our, pilot Xeryll. Glad she is to meet a woman like Zeal but for as for Zeal? I'm quite unsure whether she was glad to meet Xeryll as well. By the way, it seems, she was faking her smiles and greetings. And for the whole trip, Zeal remained stagnant, staring out from the window of the vehicle.
Her behavior piques my interest. Although she is not bitter as the ones I've met before, it still bothers me but not as in it annoys me, but makes me wonder why she's acting like that in the first place. Back to the mission, and that is to obtain the database from the famous Birch. I feel comfortable, suspecting Liligant is doing her job as a baby-sitter.
We've been together for many years and through these years I have noticed her sympathy to many Pokemon especially to the young ones. It is as if she is a loving mother. As for the egg, I hope she treats it as one of her children.
"Now what?" asks, Zeal as we hide behind a bush with the professor's laboratory in front.
"Wait. You're asking me on what to do?"
"And risk the chances of being called a bossy Elite Operative? No, I won't. Just tell me what to do and I'll probably do it." she says, with a bit of sarcasm. Hearing her words I noticed there was a slight anger too, as if she remembered something horrible. That is personal and private and I want things to stay like that to avoid further conflicts with her.
"What do you mean by probably?"
"Depends if your opinions are better than mine but they're probably are since like what you've said, you've been to a lot of major missions."
"Are you saying I was being boastful back then? I didn't mean it. If I did, I want to apologize." I speak with sincerity.
"Nah it's fine. Just- go. Tell me what to do."
"Alright! ... .... .... Um, I have no idea too. Hehe." with an embarrassed face, I utter, thinking desperately for a plan.
"I thought you were a profound agent? I never knew the "great" Luna Evergreen would run out of ideas." she says bitterly, even emphasizing a title that I do not have.
"Look. No one calls me the "great", and other elite operatives run out of ideas too not just me. Wow, had I made you that jealous back then?"
"Who said I was jealous?! Sigh, just stop. I hate getting into arguments. Fine, let's do my plan instead. So, I was thinking to burst the door from behind instead of entering from the front gates. Don't ya think that's a great idea? Or do you have a better one in mind?"
"Not trying to contradict but, for what cause should we be entering from the back door?" I query in a respectful manner.
"I don't know. I'm tired of using the vents so I believe it is time to use something different for once. Come on, a long-time agent like you probably knows how many times you've infiltrated a place by entering the ventilation system. Don't you think that is too.., lackluster nowadays?"
"At least it's safe."
"Sigh, we are different are we not? I'm more of an adventurer who is willing to try new things rather than the normal routine of every agent. Enemies are clever and if we persist to do our normal infiltration techniques then there will be a time when those techniques would no longer work since our enemies got used to it as well."
"You are clearly smarter than me." I compliment her nature.
"And you're more of a safety girl who takes things precociously. Anyway, let us proceed."
Glad that chat of ours did not end up in an argument. If Zeal was Xavier, we would've never come up with a decision or plan. Perhaps by the end of the day, me and him would still be hiding behind a bush.
"Roserade! I need your help!" She tosses out her partner Pokemon. An elegant rose, humble as ever filled with petals of magnificence. Roserade is something you don't see commonly.
[Roserade! Boquet Pokemon! A grass and poison type. The poison in its right hand is quick-acting. The poison in its left hand is slow acting. Both are life-threatening. With the movements of a dancer, it strikes with whips that are densely lined with poison thorns.] The Pokedex states, showing valuable information about the said Pokemon in its screen.
"You have a Pokedex?!"
"Um... I find nothing wrong with having one."
"Sigh, your Rotom-Phone is an automated Pokedex already. But hey? Two is better than one. Come on, let's proceed."
"I guess I'm not that tech-savvy. Hehe!"
And so, after another chit-chat on the road, we make our way to the back doors of the laboratory of the famous Professor Birch. seeing Roserade reminds me of Liligant except she is shorter and different in many ways. Still, she is a rose which is a type of flower and Liligant is a flower too.
With a powerful Leaf Blade, Roserade knocks out the back doors, giving us an opportunity to enter. We are like Rapidashes, acting with maximum swiftness. The lights are closed which means the professor is nowhere to be found. From the distance, I can see the entrance door, fully locked up.
And so, from there we scramble for the professor's desk which is obviously in the corner of the laboratory, separated from the cubicles of his aides. Even in Kanto and Johto, laboratories are usually like that, the professor's working place is always far from the desk of the aides.
"He has a password. What agent are you?" Zeal unfolds the laptop and presses the power button only to be greeted with a screen demanding the password to unlock itself.
"I'm a combat agent."
"Well, I'm combat too. I do not know how to deal with these password shenanigans. There must be some clues around here. Search the drawers I'll search the table." She instructs, but in a respectful way. Since the beginning, I knew she kept on avoiding herself to be called "bossy" or an authoritarian like Matori.
We leave no stone unturned, scouring every inch of Birch's unorganized desk. The longer we take, the more pressure we become. We have an inner feeling telling us Professor Birch is about to arrive here.
"Make a guess instead." suggests, me.
"Good grief. Um, [4433212]"
{Incorrect Password!}
"Let's try, [999333666]
{Incorrect Password!}
"Well, maybe [321123] will work"
{Incorrect password! One chance left}
"Nothing's working Luna!" she panics. Her hands tremble, cautious of what to type next. Soon, the desk is soaked with the sweat caused by her perspiration. Hysteria surrounds the air, and the ticking from the clock seems loud of all a sudden.
"Just insert the microchip. Maybe it will work."
"Well, okay then." she concurs to my idea. With cling tightly to hope, begging for the microchip to do its magic and ruthlessly ruin the system of the laptop. She inserts the device, and now we count to ten for the microchip to work.
"One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven... Eight... Nine... and Ten!" softly, we count.
Upon reaching the tenth second, the whole screen glitches. Random pop-ups appear, icons moved at their own, and the fan of the laptop heats intensely. As for the password, it was automatically entered. A long bar then appears, which says, [Gathering Data]. That is the good news, but the bad news it takes so long to move to the next percent. It took more than a minute for 1% to turn to 3% which makes us anxious because of pressure.
The bar reaches 90%, and a whistle enters our ears coming from the front of the house. It is at that moment when we notice that the professor is nearby, and is probably heading this way. we then heard keys being plugged into the doorknob.
"Go deal with the professor, I'll handle this." bids, Zeal as she continues to watch the bar moving from 90-91%."
"Ah... those Zigzagoons are always a big bother." says, the professor. He then yawns deeply while stretching his hands far and wide. The moment he opened his eyes, he was greeted with a dilapidated door laying randomly on the floor. Zeal tries to remain silent as possible while I on the other hand tries to bring the element of surprise to life.
Wondering what could've happened, Birch opens the lights. Luckily his workspace is hidden because of the stack of bookshelves. "Is anyone there?! Show yourself! I know you're there somewhere. Don't make me call the Pokemon International Police." He shouts. There was a part of him who was frightened. His lips are all tangled, his face wears an uncomfortable expression.
He walks like a delicate glass to one of the shelves, and there I strike. With Misdreavus's help, we push the bookshelf down, pinning the professor to the floor. He did not expect such a thing to happen to him but at least if it wasn't for his fats his bones would be all crushed.
"Ah?! Who are you?" questions, Birch while struggling to escape out of the shelf crushing the body.
"Our organization is to remain anonymous. Misdreavus, shadow ball!"
"What the?! Please, don't do this." Birch says in a coward manner.
"Sorry, but I ran out of mercy. Hee hee." hysterically, I speak, letting off a soft chuckle afterward.
The Shadow Ball was about to destruct his face but Zeal interrupts.
"What the?! Leave the professor here, I've obtained the data let's go."
"Well if we kill him there wouldn't be any witness to tell the police right?"
"They don't know about us, so let's go." she decides to pull my hand, dragging me out of the laboratory by passing through the back door.
"Sigh, Misdreavus return to your Pokeball."
At the end of the day, we succeeded on our first mission together, leaving a witness whom I was about to kill. Zeal has a point, although the professor has seen us, he completely has no clue about who we are and where our headquarters is established. I'm also assuming the Pokemon International Police here is completely clueless about our organization thus Birch's rant in front of the officers later will only make him look like a fool.
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