Pokemon Regression

Chapter 20: Infiltrating the Museum

The neighbourhood was quiet around the Pewter Museum of Science, with the sun now having well and truly set only the city street lamps were around to light up the path, since the museum itself was closed. I gripped Yeller's Pokeball tightly, since I'd put him back inside it to recover and stay hidden until a battle broke out.

Brock and I approached the entrance with an air of caution. I'd wanted to message Chee and let her know that we were coming, but Brock had told me that she wound up getting caught because she made a weird beeping noise... Which probably meant she got caught because I sent her a message before.

Slowly, Brock opened the door to the antiquated museum and we waited by the entrance, peering in as our eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Although the place had apparently not seen any use in a long time, the layers of dust were much thinner than I expected, lending credence to the theory that people were still using the site. There were various exhibits of different kinds of rocks, as well as three prominent fossilised skeletons of ancient Pokemon displayed on large pedestals across the building. Two of them were strange bipedal skeletons, the third was some sort of large flying creature. 

I made a closer inspection, looking for traps like tripwires or explosives that might have been hidden on the door frame to catch intruders, but it proved to be a needless concern. A handful of dust tossed across the entry way showed no signs of any detection systems. The place was shut down. I did spot a door at the back of the building that looked like it lead to another faculty area, however, which I pointed to. Brock nodded at me in response.

"Stay close to me kid." Brock murmured quietly. "Go home if you're scared, I can handle this by myself."

I shook my head. "Don't count me out just yet. We're going to save both of them." I whispered back.

Slowly we sneaked our way across the hardwood floor, trying not to make too much noise. There were a few gentle creaks we couldn't do anything about, but our travel was mostly silent until Brock jolted suddenly after turning. "Son of a..." He startled quietly, having come face to face with one of the rigged skeletons I'd seen earlier.

A bipedal skeleton with two long scythe-like blades on it's arms, which stood in front of Brock on the hardwood floor, it's peculiar pointed dome-like head almost seeming to stare at us with it's empty eye sockets. "Creepy things..." Brock murmured, regaining his calm as he turned away.

I continued staring at it, something striking me as odd about the ancient Pokemon fossil. I was examining it trying to figure out what was bothering me, when suddenly the scythe-like blade on it's right arm turned and swung at my throat.

"Woah!?" With a yelp I leapt backwards, barely evading the blade as it sliced through the space I'd occupied a moment earlier. The fossil shakily took a step forward, and I could barely believe my eyes. "B-Brock! The fossil is moving!?" I spoke a little too loudly.

The bipedal fossil charged me again, it's arm scythes raised overhead to cut me to shreds. Fortunately before it had the chance to do so, Brock grabbed it at the wrist joints and kicked it in the abdomen, detaching the arms from it's body.

"You alright kid?" He asked.

I nodded quietly. "What was that? The fossil was moving by itself..."

"...Like it was alive?"

I shook my head. "No, it looked more like a puppet being controlled by it's strings..." It felt familiar somehow, like I'd seen something similar in the past...

I glanced over to the pedestal we'd seen by the entrance, and I felt a sudden surge of alarm as I realised it was now empty.

"...Brock, the other two fossils are also missing."