The Professor's Secret

31. A Brief Reunion

Talonflame's speed – consequence of the urgency he felt in me – made it no soft landing once we reached our destination. He quickly flew down, coming as close to the ground as he could without stopping, and I jumped off when I felt the time was right – I stumbled forward as soon as my feet hit the ground, skating over the fallen leaves scattered across the empty street. Keeping my legs moving forward helped me regain my balance, and Talonflame flipped his wings next to me during those seconds of uncertainty, flying in the same speed as I ran. I stopped, sliding on the floor and holding on to the great wall surrounding the Pokeball factory.

I looked around the city: There was a pair of grunts in each corner, watching, and one more blocking the entrance...

"Good thing I have you, buddy!" I panted, recovering my breath "They'd never let me in through the road..."

As I analyzed the situation, Talonflame perched up on the wall's column. Sneaking around and stretching my neck, I could see Shauna inside. She stood next to a knocked-out grunt, possibly watching him to make sure he wouldn't wake up – she also half-panicked in the process.

"It's no use!" Trevor sounded scared. "We have to get out of here!"

"No!" Calem's voice struggled out: he moaned and panted as he tried to lift a large roll-up door leading into the factory.

"Come on, maaan...." Tierno cried, moving his legs agitatedly through the ground "There will be more of them soon! We have to go!"

"It won't do... That door won't budge! We're just wasting time here!" Trevor desperately tried to reason.

"He's waking up... He's waking uuuuup!!" Shauna announced, pacing backwards from the grunt, who now moaned lazily and threatened to move.

...But Calem didn't hear them. He struggled on: his face was red, his muscles were tense, his arms trembled as he invested all his strength in trying to lift the gate open.

"Man, we have to leave..." Tierno sighed – it was a 'with or without you' sigh, and Calem could sense it. It still wasn't enough to make him stop trying:

"He called us for help..." he groaned through ground teeth "he'll get help!"

I rushed forward. Talonflame flew away and cried, announcing our entrance as I walked up the stairs.

"It's Anne!" Shauna exclaimed to herself in a bit of disbelief.

"Anne!" Trevor ran up to meet me. His excitement was the only one untainted by the distance that fell between us through those last couple of months. It felt good to be among them again. I smiled... but didn't stop.

"Where was she?!" Tierno asked Trevor in his loud curiosity as I moved past them.

Stopping only next to Calem, I bowed down and locked my fingers under the door as he did. I used all my strength, as he had been doing. The door slowly shook, seeming to start to move.

"Anne..." Calem looked at me, utterly surprised and slightly speechless.

"Reproach me later... just pull it!" I demanded.

But it still took him a while until he could stop looking at me and summon back his strength, as if I had been presumed to be dead all this time.

"Yeah..." he murmured, falling back into reality. A smile stretched across his face – the old, brave smile I knew him for having "Yeah, pull!!!" he commanded with renewed voice and renewed strength.

The large door shook and screeched, its resistance giving in progressively more. Trevor and Tierno watched what they judged an impossible progress, then rushed to help us.