Chapter Three: Listening : Beating

Eyes blearily opened taking in their surroundings once again. Part of them hoped that this was all one big dream or rather a nightmare. He didn't wake up in some garbage dump, he didn't see a real-life Pokémon, there weren't dozens of corpses surrounding him, and he also didn't use said corpses as a launch platform to escape said hell.

 But sadly, things didn't go his way as he took in the same surroundings he saw before he dozed off. His back leaned against the only thing saved from whatever destruction was wrought upon the room.

 "It really wasn't a dream…shit," he said aloud, chuckling self-deprecatingly at the end.

 He had no clue what he was going to do now, hell he still couldn't remember his name or anything about himself. Just things pertaining to this world he knew were fictional, like where he came from. But…

 All that death down below. Could this place be different than the one he knew and loved?

 …Loved?

 Before he could think more about the circumstances, he found himself in, the sound of hissing filled the room, almost as if the room itself was decompressing. Light from a hallway filled the space he was in, albeit not much, he could see a little more of his surroundings. He had assumed correctly when he crawled out of the chute that it was a workstation, but the more he looked the more he shuddered.

 He found himself in what he could only assume was a lab and when his eyes fell upon an examination table, memories he didn't know he had surfaced for a brief moment.

 As brief as it was, it was enough for the bile in his stomach to rise, but he quickly stuffed it down as he heard a pair of voices make themselves known.

 "Fuck me, she really did a number on the lab eh?" somebody said.

 "No shit dude! That Arbok of hers is one mean son of a bitch," the other responded.

 With his back against the front of the desk, he knew he had to hide. He didn't want to face whoever these two men were. So as quietly as he could he made his way around the desk and his himself in the space where one's legs would normally go. Careful to keep his ears open, he settled into the small space but not before he grabbed a piece of debris and put it against the opening, trying to cover himself a little bit.

 "How the Giratina does she expect us to clean this! Damn the captain!" the second stated angrily.

 "Hey! Cut the shit! If we don't do this the captain will feed us to her Victreebel!" the first one said, fear laced throughout his voice. "Get your Diglett and start burying all the poison! I'll have Geodude start destroying all the equipment and send it down the chute."

 "Yeah yeah, I'll get on it."

 Two flashes of white lit up the walls and two new voices made themselves known.

 "GEO!"

 "DIG!"

 "Alright, start over there-" the voice was cut off as the floor started to vibrate, causing a ruckus and making it hard to hear the two men.

 All he could do was pray he wouldn't get found. These two probably worked for the lady that did this to the body- or rather him now that he thought about it.

 Time seemed to drag on for forever as the floor and all the bits and pieces of the lab were either buried deep within the earth or tossed down the chute he crawled out of. The sounds of destruction came to a halt though as one of the men seemingly finished their task.

 "Hey Doug's done, I'm gonna go grab a bite at the caff. Heard they got Tauros steaks today," the second one said.

 "Shit really? Ok, I'll be right there save me a seat, I only have the desk to do," the first one replied. 

 Shit shit shit! His heart started to beat faster as footsteps and the rumbling of rocks made their way ever closer to where he was hiding.

 "Hey, your loss, Donny just got back from his mission, so I'd hurry if I were you," the second voice told the first. The hissing sound went through the room again as the door opened.

 "Arceus! Donny's back? Cobbler toss the desk and let's hurry to the caff!" the first one yelled, demanding his Geodude to hurry it up.

 "Dude," with a grumble, the Geodude made its way over to the desk and its big rock hands grabbed the desk and began to lift. Only as it lifted the desk ever so slightly did a panel suddenly open up on the wall, drawing the man's attention.

 "Cobbler wait!" the Geodude stopped moving the desk as his trainer made their way over to the wall panel that just opened up. "The hell is this?"

 The Geodude made its way over to the man and the man suddenly cheered. "A fuckin safe? Thank Arceus! Cobbler crack it open, gently."

 The Pokémon did as it was told and gently pried the door off its hinges with little effort.

 "Oh, man! We hit the mother load Cobbler! Look at all this money!"

 The boy's heart started to beat a little slower as the man's attention was solely on whatever he had found, money by the sounds of it. Only when he sighed his foot knocked the piece of metal he had been using as a makeshift door fell over and the dull thud it made reverberated around the room.

 The man and Geodude stopped what they were doing and turned towards the desk where the noise had come from. Without making any noise, the man signalled for his partner to go and check out where the noise came from. The low rumbling the Geodude made before was gone as he started to float a little higher of the floor and made its way over.

 His heartbeat that had slowed, started to pick up to astronomical levels, he couldn't hear where the Geodude was anymore and even if he could, the blood pumping through his ears made him nearly deaf. He clamped his hands over his ears and shut his eyes to try and calm down somewhat, his breathing even out if only a little and he opened his eyes. Only to jump a little as he came face to face with the Geodude, its brown eyes encased around light brown rocks stared back unblinking and a wave of information swept through his mind.

Pokémon: Geodude Age: 3 Gender: Male Type: Rock/Ground Potential: C-

Description: The Boulder Pokémon. Geodude are known to be proud of their sturdy body and will bash against others of their kind in a contest of sorts to prove whose body is harder. It will even go as far as to compare itself with other species such as Roggenrola.

Moves: Tackle, Defense Curl, Rollout, Rock Throw, Bulldoze, Mud-slap Ability: Sturdy

 Before the boy could make a move. The Geodude spoke up.

 "Geo-Geodude,"

 "That right huh? Well, whatever, let's get out of here! Papa's gonna get lucky tonight!" the man said, continuing to grab whatever was from the safe. His focus however was on the Geodude still in front of him, their eyes still focused on one another.

 "Let's go Cobbler! I'll even get you a tasty rock to eat! Leave the desk who gives a muk!" the man said, the hissing of the door sounding again.

 The Geodude simply nodded its head or rather whole body and placed its hands on the floor and leapt over the desk landing near its trainer. The door made a hissing sound once more and it closed. The boy finally let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and slumped against the floor, falling out of his hidey hole.

 Why did he help me?

 Thoughts like that ran though his mind as to why the Geodude didn't tell its trainer about him. But he wasn't going to question it much longer as he knew he had to get out of here, for real this time.

 So, with what little strength he had, he got out of the foot space and stood up taking in his surroundings which were now much cleaner. The melting equipment and furniture that had been destroyed was all gone and the floor that had been sagging due to said poison was now flatter and just bumpy due to the earth it now was. The place he had been hiding was now his salvation. He started to rifle through the drawers hoping to find something or anything really that might be able to help him.

 After a few minutes of rifling through the drawers he found a wide array of things. Chief amongst them a black device he could only describe as a PSP. How he knew he didn't know. He also found some stray discs with different numbers on them and a vague memory of them being something a Pokémon can use to learn a move? He couldn't really remember but if he could, he would take them.

 He also found a couple of wads of cash, something that would no doubt prove useful, but that was everything he found.

 Nothing he could really use to help him escape from his current situation. His hope fading a little, he turned his attention to the panel on the wall that held the safe and he hoped that man left something of use behind.

 Walking over he stumbled a little as his foot that was touched by the Grimer was still aching and when he looked down, he finally noticed it had started to turn a little purple. No doubt he was poisoned, and it would only get worse from here, it also meant he was on a clock and had to move.

 The panel had been torn off the wall and the safe door was pried open, with a little hope in his heart he opened it and peered in. All the hope he had was quickly drained as the safe was completely empty. That man had run off with everything that was in it. He didn't know what came over him, but he slammed the safe door shut in rage. Rage at being somewhere he shouldn't be, rage at the man for taking whatever he could have used, rage at that red-headed bitch for doing what she did to him.

 rage…rage…Rage…RAGE!

 As his thoughts started to be filled anger, the safe door he slammed, whipped open due to the strength he used, and a clink sounded from within it.

 All thoughts of anger left him, and he peered once more into the safe and found the back panel had come loose. Seeing some glimmer of hope he grabbed the back of it and pulled, tearing the metal plate back he glimpsed into the space and was once more left disappointed.

 It appeared the safe was old and the backing of it had jus started to erode, or hell with all the excavating and damage the room had suffered maybe it just came loose. The anger that had filled with before came back with a vengeance and he was left with only one option. He had to fight his way out of wherever he was and first things first he had to find some clothes. He couldn't go around escaping in a long speedo after all.

 Deciding to shelve his anger at his current circumstances he looked towards the sliding door and made his way over. Only when he came up to it, expecting it to open on its own, he was left in disappointment as nothing happened. Looking around the outline of the door he found what he assumed was a button and was about to press it-

 *Psshhhhh*

 The door opened without him doing anything and he came face to face with somebody.

 "The fuck!-" the person started before the boy not knowing he had to do something lest he be brought back to that bitch. Grabbed the man by the collar and tossed him to the ground and just started to wail on the man.

 Left.

 Right.

 Right.

 Left.

 Right.

 A one-sided pummeling happened, and the boy only stopped when a flash of light appeared in the dim room. He had forgotten that these people carried Pokémon. He turned to face the light, willing to put it all on the line and fight this Pokémon, only when the light died down he came to face to boulder with a familiar Pokémon.

 "GEO!" the boulder shouted. Taking in his surroundings he looked towards his 'trainer' and found him to be knocked out. Turning its head or rather whole body, he looked at the perpetrator and found it to be the boy he spared earlier.

 Eyes met rocky ones and the stared at each other.

 "Geo, dude-geo,"

 "…What? It is y-you from before, right?" the boy asked.

 The Geodude rolled its body and the boy assumed that it was nodding yes. Hesitantly the boy leaned towards the man's body and checked for a pulse, and he found one. Although when he did so, he saw what the person was wearing finally.

 The man was decked out in an entirely black ensemble, baring the white boots he had on his feet, and a white belt where it held the Geodude's pokeball as well as a small bag on the side, but his heart stopped when he saw the front of the man's shirt.

 A big capital "R" in red was displayed on the front. And he suddenly knew where the hell he was.

 Team Rocket.

 He was in a Team Rockey base.

 He might truly well be fucked.