Pokemon - The Biggest Wish

Chapter 23 - Hostage Situation

 I was woken by the sound of rattling. My eyes opened and I saw Sheldon pounding his fist against a barred wall. We were locked in a cell. Sheldon had never been one to give up, never one to back down, but now, my neighbour slumped to his knees, cradling his head in his hands. “Oh, you're awake.” He said. “The trapdoor led here, into this cell. I was out for half an hour, you've been sleeping for almost two hours.” He explained, answering most of my questions. I stood up, winced at the pain, and fell back down again. I hadn't survived the fall unhurt, and neither had Sheldon. He had bruises all over his head and arms, and my legs were barely movable.

After managing to prop myself up against the wall, I ran my eyes around the cell, examining the contents. There were two bowls of water, one half empty. Presumably these were here to keep us from dehydrating. There was a small door, which Sheldon explained housed a tiny bathroom, with a toilet and a shower. Finally, there were two bleak walls, one of which was covered in writing. “Probably a drawing board for whoever was kept here last.” Sheldon guessed.

“Why didn't you just use your Pokemon to get us out? Here, I'll use my Grovyle-”

“Don't bother,” He interrupted. “They took your PokeBalls, mine too.”

“You mean...?”

“We're trapped. I was awake when they came in, guards. Threw me against the wall and stole our Pokemon.”

The next few minutes were taken up by conversation, and our wounds were killing us. “Ouch!... Ah, I'll use a Full Resto-” And then I remembered. “Damn, we left our bags with Ethan!” I muttered under my breath.

“Before you ask,” Sheldon began. “The others are probably locked in a cell like ours.”

The realisation hit me like a tonne of bricks. “Agh!” I yelled, immediately reaching for my chest pocket. To my amazement, Mum's PokeBall was still there!

“Huh?” Sheldon remarked, puzzled.

“M-my Mother gave this to me.” I told him. “Those guards must've not bothered to check my jacket pockets!”

It was our only hope, and it could possibly save us, Holly and the others. “Ok Mum, let's see what you left me!” I shouted, hurling the PokeBall at the cell bars. Nothing happened. The PokeBall clanged of the bars, sending a rattle through the air. It then rolled and stopped, lying lifelessly by my feet. Maybe it was too old to be used? No, closer inspection showed that the button at the front was cracked, locking the ball shut. “No!” I whined. “It must have cracked when I hit the floor!”

Sheldon snatched up the grey ball, examining the scratches until, he spotted something intriguing. “What's this?” He asked aloud, rotating the PokeBall round so I could see. “Inscribed is the formula PB plus C plus CS plus T. What could this mean...?”

I juggled the letters in my head. Presumably PB stood for PokeBall, but what did the other letters mean? Sheldon handed my the PokeBall back, which I then slipped into my pocket once more. And not a second later, four guards stormed into the cell, handcuffs at the ready.

We were cuffed and marched up several flights of stairs, not daring to look behind. Unbeknownst to us, each guard had a small tub of liquid in their free hand, and they were allowing the substance to trickle down every stair, pausing rarely to reconnect the trail. What in the world were they doing? A door loomed ahead, which we were forced into, emerging into a small waiting room, but nothing like where you wait at the dentist's. Two of the guards had split off somewhere, and the remaining two were undoing the handcuffs. “You are to wait here until the master calls!” The older man boomed. Just as the guards turned to leave the room, Sheldon twisted on his left foot, landing a Roundhouse Kick on the older man. He groaned and fell forward, crushing his colleague. They were out before they hit the floor.