Searching Without Shame (A Pokémon Fanfiction)

Chapter 7

"Soooo, are you a hundred percent sure Danny got the right instructions?" Mira asked hesitantly as she peeked out of the long abandoned hotel room. "This isn't exactly five stars..."

"Well if she was really as paranoid as Danny said she was, it makes sense," Amos replied, though he looked equally uncomfortable sitting in the dark, cob-webbed hotel room. "I mean we avoided this place before, and I doubt many people come here either."

"Everyone except the people who are in them cults, those punk gang people, and the people who painted the graffiti of the pentagrams and everything immoral! Those punks painted unspeakable things in the hallway! How can you people be ok?!"

"Um, I was trying not to think about it..." Margaret stammered as she wrung her hands together while keeping her gaze to the now carpet free floor, the one graffiti free place in the room. "Let's just try and stay calm for now...please?"

She heard Mira begin muttering to herself instead of continuing to complain to the others. It was the day of their meeting with Emmaline, and Margaret, Mira, and Amos were currently waiting for her to arrive. The location picked was an abandoned hotel on the previous route, which was infamous for gangs, truants, and other dark and suspicious people. Margaret wasn't happy about the arrangements either and was beginning to regret not letting Danny lead the mission, but she did her best to suck up her fear and face the situation head on.

They all jumped at the sudden sound of footsteps in the dark and dank hallway beyond. Margaret could only decipher one set of footsteps, which didn't scream a trap, but she still fingered one of her pokeballs. She had learned to remain vigilant.

She nearly didn't recognize Emmaline when she rushed into the room gasping for breath. Her once neat attire was wrinkled and dirty. Her hat was crooked and her shoulder-length dark brown hair was messy and unkempt. She looked almost frightening, but her worried expression was shattered with a smile of relief.

"Oh thank goodness you all came!" Emmaline gasped she looked around at the people present before frowning. "But...where's Danny?"

"Danny is back in town," Margaret answered. "He was injured recently so he's stayed behind with his Pokémon."

"You look awful!" Amos commented bluntly. "What's happened, why did you ask us here?"

Emmaline bit her lip and Margaret saw her gaze sweep over the room cautiously. The young trainer than said seriously, "What brand of phones do you each use? Show them to me!"

Mira and Amos all looked to Margaret, who was slightly older than them. Margaret was the first to act, taking her bag slowly and hold out the Pokegear attached to the strap. The other two followed suit, revealing the Xtransceivers on their wrists. This seemed to satisfy Emmaline, for she sighed with relief.

"Alright, I had to make sure you didn't have a Holo Caster," she explained in a rush, shakely sitting down on a dirty overturned cushion. "I couldn't take any chances."

"What's the deal with Holo Casters?" Mira inquired first. "Aren't they that new brand of phone sold exclusively in Kalos? What do they have to do with Team Flare?"

"Holo Casters were created by a man named Lysandre Fleur-De-Lis," Emmaline answered bitterly. "As you may know, a Holo Caster is like any other phone, but instead of a live feed on a screen, it's a small, live holographic image of the caller. They are extremely useful and popular, but I learned a very dark secret about them. Team Flare has been using Holo Casters to listen into people's conversations and track people. It's a quick and easy way to find targets, and unfortunately, I've become one myself."

"They bugged the Holo Casters?" Amos repeated with astonishment. "But...there's so many of them, so that means..."

"Lysandre Fleur-De-Lis created them for Team Flare's personal gain more than for the people of Kalos, yeah. He's the leader of Team Flare. Ironic how the public has been searching for Team Flare members for years and the leader has been under our very noses this whole time."